Chapter 48 - Absence

Light... Light that was... so bright... and still growing. And a noise—no, a voice. It was... too loud, annoying...

"—Potter?"

Eyes slowly came into focus, yet they couldn't quite make sense of what they were seeing. Yet, one second later, a blinding bright spot of white light caused them to wrench right back shut.

"Can you tell me how many fingers I am holding up?"

Another blink, eyes carefully opening again, and then the realization. "F—four? Wha—"

The woman in the white coat nodded, then frowned, and waved her wand, causing it to glow all sorts of colors.

"Oh dear, no, these levels are far too low... When was the last time you had a good night's sleep?"

A mouth opened, failing to find an answer.

A frown, and the woman shook her head. She reached into her robes and withdrew a small vial, uncorked it and held it out in front of her.

"Now, mouth open, careful to swallow everything."

Bitter. And so... viscous. And...

The lights slowly started to dim.

"I'll see you once you're properly rested."

And finally, darkness returned.

~V~

"...Oh and also, when Malfoy was just being Malfoy, I told him you'd woken up and he basically fled the room! Like, what? Don't tell me those rumors are actually true! I mean it's one thing to go two on one, but half the house? They gotta be exaggerating, right? Anyway, I just thought you—"

"T-Tracey?" Iris groaned, slowly peering her eyes open.

"Iris!" came a squeal, and she felt her aching body be engulfed in a hug. "You're awake!"

"I... what... what's going on?" Iris mumbled, reluctantly returning the hug, but still very much confused.

"I told you you should be getting more sleep! Madam Pomfrey says you were severely sleep-deprived! She's given you a Dreamless Sleep potion, and you conked out for three days!"

Three days?

"What... what happened? How did I..."

"You mean in the Chamber?" Tracey asked with trepidation.

Iris blinked. "Chamber?"

"Yeah, you... you don't remember?" came the reluctant query.

Iris frowned. Something was niggling on the edge of her awareness, but there was also something about that feeling that felt like a giant warning sign, telling her she really shouldn't be digging any further into that direction. "I... well I was in my room, trying to sleep like you said... I... I'm not sure how long it took in the end, but..."

"That's— No! I remember you were out of bed when I heard something that night, and got out to— well, you know..."

Iris raised an eyebrow. "I don't."

"You know, when I got... petrified."

"You got petrified?!" Iris exclaimed. "When? How?"

"I suppose it was... right when you were taken to the chamber by the heir," Tracey admitted reluctantly.

That caused Iris to draw a blank. She had been taken to the chamber?

"I... wait, what? How? And how did I get back?" Iris exclaimed.

"How? Uh... no idea, I guess you must have been taken when the heir petrified me and Lily... As for how you got back..."

At this point Tracey broke into an excited grin. "I'm pretty sure you'll be able to read every single detail of that in Lockhart's next book!"

What.

"It was amazing!" Tracey gushed. "I woke up in the hospital wing, along with all the others, for no apparent reason, and sometime later, just as Madam Pomfrey is checking us all over, he comes stumbling through the door, carrying you, and clutching the bloody Sword of Gryffindor!"

That... wow. That actually sounded exactly like something from his stories.

"Apparently, when he took down a Merlin-damned basilisk with the sword—like yes, actually with a sword—it broke the Curse of Petrification on everyone who was affected, and we all came back!"

Iris had no idea what to say to that. "So... who was it? The heir, I mean."

Tracey shrugged. "He couldn't tell. Apparently, they were completely concealed by magic, just like last time, and in the end, the heir lost control and got eaten by his own monster, so there wasn't really much left for him to examine..."

That caused Iris to frown. He really hadn't seen anything? And she had apparently been down there as well? No. She had to talk to him.

"Where is Lockhart? I... I need to talk to him."

Tracey just shook her head. "Sorry, he's gone. Basically, his contract was terminated. And after running around the castle for two days, and sitting the final exams yesterday, he's left early to... finish up his book, or something. His words. Not that anyone could really fault him after all that..."

Iris slumped. Well, there went that source of information.

Tracey continued without pause. "Oh, yeah, Dumbledore is back. He's explained today that he and the Board have come to an agreement, the result of which is his reinstatement, and the removal of Lockhart. But in turn, they already found a professor for the next year."

That caused her to raise an eyebrow. "Who is it?"

Tracey grinned. "No idea. You know Dumbledore. 'You'll find him uniquely qualified to teach this very particular subject,'" she reiterated with her best Dumbledore impression.

Iris sighed and sagged back into her bed. Once again, she had somehow gotten herself into trouble, and others had had to fix it for her. And she didn't even really remember what had happened. She really wasn't looking forward to what Harry was going to say about this.

"Where's Harry? He's probably been worried sick again..." Iris mumbled ashamedly, then cringed at her choice of words.

Tracey gave her a look and hesitated. "Uhm... that's a good question, actually. He's been missing for the past two days. McGonagall and Lupin went looking—and Lockhart too, before he left—but so far, all they have concluded was that he must have gone looking for you, and hasn't gotten the news."

Iris' eyes widened. Harry was what?

"Ron's been with him thatevening—well after Lockhart defeated the heir—so it's got nothing to do with that, thankfully. He still disappeared though, so if he did go looking for you, he probably didn't get the news in time."

"But... how can he be just... missing?"

Tracey just gave a helpless shrug. "These things just happen to people who explore a bit too far into Hogwarts. Last year, a second-year Hufflepuff tried to see how deep the dungeons would actually go, and well... They somehow found him in the Astronomy tower a week later, completely out of it, but still fine. You know Fred and George? They went missing for a month in their first year trying to explore the bottom of the grand staircase, and if their claims are to be believed, they got separated for a few times, but the only people they managed to find were each other. And that's not even talking about all the Slytherins that get lost in our common room."

What the hell was actually wrong with wizards? Harry was missing and they just... didn't care? Had Harry really come looking for her? Did she now have to go looking for him looking for her? Iris blinked, trying to get her thoughts back into order. No, she realized. He'd probably show up sooner or later anyway, right?

Right, maybe she could just check the map? But... well, if Harry had gone looking for her, he would have taken the map with him, right? But then again, if he did have the map, why had he gone somewhere at all, if he could have just looked for her on it, and seen her in the hospital wing?

There were simply too many questions. She had to find out what actually happened, and she had to find out from the source. And that meant, she had to go talk to Ron. Well, maybe. It didn't seem all that important; he was probably fine.

"Miss Potter."

Iris jumped at the new voice, which—contrary to expectation—turned out to not be Madam Pomfrey. A tall man wearing nothing but black was standing at the edge of her bed, wearing an unreadable expression.

Tracey's eyes darted between her and Snape, until she relented and said "Talk to you later, okay?"

Before Iris could even manage a reply, Snape gave Tracey another look, and the girl scampered for the door.

He was just staring at Iris for some time, until he reached out to grab the curtains around her bed, and with a determined motion, slowly dragged them shut. The moment the last fleeting gap of light was drowned out by the white cloth, so was all the sound—as if by magic.

He was still just staring, not even breaking eye contact through the whole thing, until he reached to his side, pulled a chair up to her bed, and sat down next to her.

"Would you care to explain," he began in a whisper.

"Why... despite everything I have told you..." his voice took a palpable edge, that made Iris flinch.

"You saw it necessary... to cast a Killing Curse?"

Iris' eyes widened. "I... what?"

Somehow, his glare intensified so much that she was pretty sure he was trying to set her on fire with that alone.

"I'd advise you to... choose your next words... very. carefully."

Iris' breath caught in her throat. Crap. What was going on? He was somehow convinced that she had cast a Killing Curse? But... she hadn't? She... well, she remembered considering it, when she couldn't sleep, and thinking about... What did she want to do again? Probably practice... Practice the... Killing Curse?

"I-I'm sorry! I don't know what you're talking about! I... the only thing I remember is lying in bed, I couldn't sleep, and... and then I woke up here, and people tell me I'd been taken to the chamber..." Iris hastily replied, the actual truth sounding even weaker than any excuse she could have come up with.

He was still glaring at her, as if trying to murder her with just the use of his eyes. What the hell was she supposed to say?

"You remember... nothing since then?" he finally replied.

Iris blinked. "Not... not a thing!" she confirmed. Had he actually believed her?

Snape was still staring at her intensely, his expression completely unreadable.

"What is the exact last thing you remember?"

"I... well..." Iris swallowed. "I was in my bed, trying to fall asleep..."

She frowned, trying to remember what exactly had happened. The more she tried, the louder the warning signals grew. It was a bad, BAD idea to try to remember, but she had no idea why.

Finally, Snape sighed, then leaned forward and pinned her under a look. This one was less severe and more... foreboding.

"Miss Potter. In light of what you are telling me, it seems likely that your memory has been tampered with in some way."

Iris drew in a sharp breath. "What? But why? And... and who?"

Before she had even finished voicing the question, the answer offered itself as if on a silver platter.

"Well, yes. But they could have just been memory-charmed," the voice of Luna sounded in her head, as if she was sitting next to her.

She had known his stories couldn't all be true, and Ginny's arguments on why Luna's theory on memory charms was bogus had been sound but...

She had apparently just been rescued from the chamber by Lockhart—the very same person who lots of conspiracy theories about memory charms revolved around—and... she couldn't remember.

"If you would permit me to enter your mind, I could attempt to utilize Legilimency to try and reverse what has been done, depending on the type of damage that has been caused."

Him, enter her mind? But... well...

"Is... is there another way?" Iris asked just to be sure.

Snape sighed, and after a long second, reluctantly replied, "Another method that can provide similar results is through the use of free ritual. Although given how unreliable that can be, I strongly advise you to at least allow me to assess the situation, before making any further decisions."

Well, that was certainly messed up. In the end, she guessed, it came down to whom she trusted more. Or rather, whom she mistrusted less. Either that Lockhart wouldn't do something like that, or at least not without good reason, or that Snape wouldn't do anything in her mind that he shouldn't.

Then there was also the question whether she should be doing anything at all. Harry was missing, apparently, and she had to go look for him. And if he had been seen after Lockhart had returned, that would mean that it had nothing to do with when she was taken. But still, there was the fact that she couldn't remember, and that she was pretty damn sure that if she had been taken to the chamber, and Lockhart went to rescue her, Harry would have done everything in his power to come along. Had... what if Lockhart had done something to him? That settled it.

Iris firmed her expression and nodded. "Fine. What do I need to do?"

Snape closed his eyes for a second. "I will attempt to enter your mind. You will need to relax, not break eye contact, and if you feel any sensations that seem out of place, uncomfortable, or distinctively... foreign, you need to ignore and accept them. That will make the process as... smooth... as it could be."

He leaned forward, peering deep into her eyes, and Iris only now noticed that he was holding his wand, pointing straight at her. "Do I have your permission to enter your mind in order to verify the presence of a memory charm?"

Iris took a breath, and nodded. "Alright."

"Legilimens."

A faint deep blue shimmer entered his eyes, and there was an odd sensation of... falling? That felt weird, but somehow... familiar, like...

Hang on, they had wanted to find out about her memories, right? She had to... Iris had been lying in her bed, trying to fall asleep for hours, counting comic-style sheep to absolutely no effect, until she had realized that yeah, the Killing Curse, that would work against the basilisk, and she... she might have to practice. Just because he had thought that she might be able to cast it, didn't mean that she actually could, so she... she needed...

Huh, there was that feeling again. As if she was standing in the middle of a road, blocked off with a gigantic warning sign. The barricade seemed... not impossible to climb, but well... It still felt like a really, really bad idea to do so.

Iris blinked. Across from her, Snape lowered his wand, and took a breath.

"Well?" she asked impatiently...

"It would seem that you have indeed been the victim of a memory charm... Although perhaps victim would be an incorrect... description..."

Iris' eyebrows went up. "What do you mean by that?"

"From the looks of things, there is something... dangerous buried underneath the charm, something which your own mind considers worth keeping the alteration for."

Something... dangerous?

"While I am not able to tell exactly what that might be, I think it is possible that the charm was not placed with malicious intent, but rather, to protect you."

Iris blinked. Was that... had Lockhart... if it had even been him... had he done that to... protect her? From whatever it was that she forgot?

Maybe the heir had done something to her?

"Can you... undo it?" Iris asked hesitantly.

Snape didn't reply for a while. Finally, he sighed. "I might be able to, but I am unsure whether doing so would be... wise."

Iris mulled that over for a bit. Yeah. It was dangerous. But maybe, maybe it could help find Harry. So she had to—

"And I will not do so now. You should take some time to consider the possible... implications, and I will confer with the headmaster as to what should be done about this, and will let you know how we shall proceed latertonight."

Iris blinked, and finally, slumped back into her bed.

~V~

Pushing open the door to her room, Iris stumbled over to her bed on autopilot and collapsed onto it. What was even going on? She had first found Ron in the great hall—luckily it seemed the school had left Fort Knox mode with Lockhart's defeat of the heir—but he hadn't been able to tell her anything else that Tracey hadn't already. Apparently, Harry had been searching the castle for her, since the map had been malfunctioning for over a month now—which, what? Why had Harry never told her that? —and so he went looking the old-fashioned way, but hadn't found anything. He had then met with Ron and Susan in the evening outside the Great Hall to ask if they or anyone had heard anything, and then left once again. And only minutes later McGonagall had entered to announce the good news, only just missing him.

Tracey wasn't back yet. But Iris wasn't even sure if she wanted to talk to her right now. She had no idea what to think. Harry was missing. She had to do something. But she had no idea what. Talking to Ron hadn't yielded any results, the map was apparently broken, and the only other lead she had—her own memories... Even Snape had warned her against that. She might find something about Harry, but it might as well just make the situation a lot worse. And if even her own brain was telling her that it was a bad idea to remember...

Maybe she should just go looking by herself? But then again, what if her memories would hold the answer to where he was? In that case, she'd have to focus on trying to restore them somehow, but... Well, it probably wasn't all that important anyway, he'd show up sooner or later.

She tossed and turned in the bed, gripping the blanket tightly, until her foot hit something... metallic?

Iris jerked up, threw the covers back and revealed...

What the hell was that thing? And what was it doing in her bed?

What she had found was a large silver bowl filled with a misty-white liquid, which somehow hadn't spilled even when she had accidentally kicked it with her foot. Iris had never seen this thing before, what was it doing in her bed? Or had she? Something about it seemed... familiar. And dangerous.

Had she seen it... then? When whatever happened that had been wiped from her memories? Did it have something to do with what happened? Iris slowly crept closer and peered over the edge and into the bowl resting innocently on her blanket. It... wow! It was like she was looking through a window onto a hill! A beautiful clear blue sky above lush green grass and flowers covering a hillside, and... there were even people inside! How did that work? Without thinking, she reached out a hand to touch it—

The bed convulsed underneath her and she felt herself flung face first into the liquid, and just a second later, she was in free fall atop a hill. Her eyes widened as the ground rapidly approached her, and just as she was about to attempt to cast a spell to hopefully break her fall, she felt herself slow down all on her own, until she landed in the grass next to one of the people she had seen before. Were there really people living inside this... whatever it was?

Then, Iris gasped as she recognized the person standing next to her.

"Professor?! What are you doing in here?"

Her Defense professor didn't reply. He was just smiling at her. Or rather... upon further inspection, it wasn't really that he was looking at her. Almost like he was looking through her. She raised a hand and waved it in front of his face, to absolutely no reaction. Huh.

Was she invisible? Or... was this like a movie or something? A past memory, or maybe fictional? Was this... like the thing they had been using in history? But there it had seemed more like slightly translucent projections overlaying their classroom. But this felt almost like she was actually... there.

"Gilderoy! It's you! Thank you so much for coming!"

Iris whirled to face the newcomer and was met with a young woman in long blue robes, maybe in her thirties, with curly blonde hair, who was shooting Lockhart a blinding smile to match his own.

"Mathilda! Of course, I came as quickly as I could. Is it true the Lethifold has been sighted near the village?"

Her face fell, and took a look of apprehension. "We've driven it away several times, but it always seems to come back for some reason. Last night, Miriam was almost killed!"

In response her Defense professor flashed his trademark smile at her, and replied "Well, fear not, for now that I am here, we shall put an end to this once and for all!"

Iris goggled. He actually talked like that for real? Not just in his books? Well, if this was actually something that... really happened. But it seemed too realistic to be a dream. And it also seemed kind of familiar.

The blonde shot him a grateful smile, and then turned and waved him over down the hill towards a set of small white buildings, as well as one single larger one with a number of chimneys atop it in the center. In front of them began a gravel road, next to which stood a weathered wooden sign proclaiming 'Welcome to Upper Rydal'

Seeing the sign, and connecting it to the names and the Lethifold sighting, Iris finally plucked out the relevant memory why this all seemed so familiar. This was from his latest book, Laughing with Lethifolds. And the woman, Mathilda, had been the assistant barkeep in the village where Lockhart had stayed in the final chapter.

Approaching the large stone building, the woman ran ahead and called out "Robert, he's here!"

A bald and burly man stuck his head out of the entrance and brightened up "Maddy! Tha's found 'im! We were gettin' worried he wouldn't show up at all!"

Lockhart approached the man and shook his hand. "I couldn't just not show up, after the Lethifold was released during the ambush on Marcel's little group. It is my duty to ensure our actions won't hurt anyone else."

"Glad to hear it! Well, come on in, then we can go ower t' plan."

Iris followed the group of people reluctantly into the entrance of the stone building, until they found themselves in a room. Wooden support beams lined the ceiling, the walls were covered in moving pictures, and every single spot that was unoccupied by either windows or pictures held bottles of some kind. The bald man made his way over to the large wooden counter, and rapped his wand against the surface, causing three pints to come floating from the stack to the left, pass underneath the tap, and then settle on the counter as the distinct aroma of butterbeer began to permeate the room.

Lockhart raised an eyebrow and said, "Isn't it a bit... early?"

"Ah, it's nivver too early for a pint," replied the jovial man, as he handed the butterbeer to Lockhart.

Lockhart gave a smile and took the offered beverage as he settled down on a barstool in front of the counter, and the woman followed suit, shooting the man a grateful smile as he waved off her proffered silver sickle.

They both sampled the butterbeer for a moment, while the burly barkeep helped himself to the third pint, until Lockhart spoke up again. "So, you wrote that the Lethifold keeps appearing at midnight, correct?"

"Yes, and it seems to be almost drawn to Miriam, three nights it attacked, two of them at her house, and the last night where she stayed over with me, it showed up at my place instead!"

"Poor lass is beside herself wi' worry, and I can't blame her. We're at t' end of our rope 'ere."

Lockhart took another sip, then frowned. "Well, if it keeps being drawn to her anyway, I think we should use that to set a trap."

The woman's eyebrows went up, and she replied with hesitation, "What do you have in mind?"

Lockhart flashed her a smile. "The Patronus Charm! If we can lure it into a large enclosed space, like say, this room for example, then we could have people approach it from all sides with a Patronus Charm, box it in, until we can find a way to... get rid of it!"

The blonde frowned. "Well... maybe?" She then turned to look at the other barkeep. "Robert, do you know anyone else who can cast that charm?"

The burly man scratched his chin. "Well, ah might be able to, if it came down to it, but ah don't think there's anyone else in t' village. Pretty tricky magic, that."

Somehow, something seemed strange. They were acting—while obviously friends—more like customer and host, not like two partners working a bar together. In fact, it sounded like Mathilda didn't know all that much about the town either.

Lockhart hesitated for a moment, and then gave a smile. "Well, then the three of us will just have to do. I'm sure we can manage it."

Iris stumbled as the room suddenly began to blur, shapes, chairs, everything shifted and changed, as it quickly grew darker and darker, the bright sunlight replaced with pale moonlight and the soft glow of a large open fireplace. As soon as it had started, it stopped again, reality snapping back into focus. What the hell had that been about?

She carefully looked around the room. It was definitely nighttime now, and Lockhart and that Mathilda woman were still here. The barkeeper was gone, but another woman with unruly brown hair was sitting in a chair next to one of the wooden tables, apparently being consoled by the blonde.

"Ssh, it's fine, Miri. We won't let it hurt you. Just trust in Gilderoy, alright?" she said while rubbing the brunette's back.

This caused the new woman to sob once again. "It's him! Ah telt ya, ah know it! Ah rejected him, an' he died because of it, an' now he's come back t' take me with him!"

Lockhart approached the two women cautiously and put on Witch Weekly's most-charming-smile. "Miriam, do not fret. I assure you it is nothing like that. It's a Lethifold, not a ghost. Whatever the reason it seems to be drawn to you has nothing to do with Simon. It is simply a creature of dark magic; one that we must eradicate."

"What he said, Miri. Just leave it to us. Trust in Gilderoy, and by tomorrow, it will be all over."

The brunette looked between the other two occupants of the room, visibly gathered her resolve, and nodded. Iris perked up as she heard the door creak open behind her and she saw Robert enter the room with a frown. Lockhart caught his expression and spoke up, "What is it?"

He held out a hand, and replied in a hushed whisper, "Tha lights. Tha lights are all... wrong... strange... almost like... they don't quite reach..."

Lockhart's eyes widened, and Iris noticed the same thing he did. It wasn't the lights; it was the shadows that were wrong. Starting from the window, it seemed like all the shadows were a bit distorted, not quite like when she drew shadows, but also not dissimilar, just a lot less so. And it seemed to originate from one point. A point that was moving closer.

A dark spot appeared in the window and caused Mathilda to gasp. The other woman looked up at the noise, and once her eyes met the window, she opened her mouth as if to scream, but the blonde clapped a hand over her mouth, so all that was heard was a muffled squeak. The darkness slowly creeped closer, slipping through the gaps of the closed window, until it had completely emerged inside it, and was now sliding along the walls. That... that was.

"Lethifold. Merlin..." whispered Robert, clutching a wand in a death-grip.

Iris' eyebrows went sky-high. That was a... Lethifold? But... It looked almost like... no it looked exactly like someone who was inside the shadow realm, exactly the way she remembered Hermione's shadow on the wall during their encounter with Fluffy. Could it be that... Hermione had been actually right in Lockhart's class?

She had even told her of her experience, was that... when she had slowly felt her emotions dull out, and everything stopped to matter...

Was it possible that Lethifolds were just people trapped in the shadow realm? But... why wouldn't they just... get back out...

Or rather, how would they? All the books made no mention of anything like the shadow realm, so if anyone had ever discovered it, they hadn't left to tell the tale. But wizards certainly knew of people disappearing when... overchanneling Dark polarized magic. But the only way to do that—at least according to the book—was through the use of the Tenebris spell. And therein lay the problem. Drawing or even holding your wand would be tricky in the shadow realm, if not impossible, unless you somehow attached it to your hand before entering, and even then...

The Tenebris spell was one of those that needed to be vocalized.

And you couldn't speak in the shadow realm.

Iris was staring with dawning horror at the shadowy silhouette that looked almost human, yet not quite. The man who was trapped in the shadow realm, here to see his loved one. Or maybe, do something else entirely. If he even still wanted at all. With what Hermione had told her, and what she had read about Lethifolds, would he even still feel anything other... other than hunger?

She watched in a daze as the shadow closed in, along the walls, and the floor, towards the brunette in the center of the room. If Laughing with Lethifolds had been accurate, the man had been trapped in the shadow realm for weeks now. And Hermione had almost lost herself after half of a day. She had never really noticed anything, but then again, the longest she had ever stayed in the shadow realm was an hour tops, when she had gotten knocked out. What would happen if she somehow got stuck in there for a longer period? And what would happen if her emotions started to fade as well? Would she not even be able to summon enough darkness to get back out?

"All together now!" yelled Lockhart, holding up his wand, which was beginning to glow in a blinding White. Mathilda and Robert followed suit, their wands alight in a glow of their own.

Iris watched helplessly as they began the pattern of what would undoubtedly spell the end of the unfortunate man trapped in the dimension of eldritch horrors that she had been using as a public transport network. She knew what was coming of course; she had read the book.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

Blinding light burst forth and coalesced into shapes. A bear, a gazelle, and... a bird...

No, not just any bird. Was that... a peacock?

Iris didn't know what she had expected.

Robert's bear approached from the door, while the gazelle and the peacock closed in from the other two corners of the room. The shadow screeched, and contorted in the center, the light visibly harming it. It almost looked like it was glitching, like when she was trying to watch a video online and the connection would go all weird.

Suddenly, it moved. As if toothpaste squeezed out of the tube, it slipped along the ground, towards the side right in the middle between where Robert and Lockhart were standing, who were standing the furthest apart between the three of them. It got pinned to the wall right there in the middle of both of their glowing animals, then slid along the wall all the way to the ceiling, only to disappear in the gap between the wall and the ceiling.

"Bloody hell!" cursed Mathilda, dispelling her Patronus with a flick of her wand. "It got away."

She finally withdrew her hand from Miriam's mouth, who instantly began sobbing uncontrollably.

"Well, there was always a chance this could happen, but the upside is that it's now been thoroughly driven away," declared Lockhart with a hesitant smile, as he banished his own... lion Patronus? When had that happened? Hadn't it just been...

Mathilda shot him a raised eyebrow. "I think the problem is that there's no way we can achieve a uniform field with just three of us. And since the charm drives it away... well, it'll always find a way to escape."

"You think so? But... we only have the three of us here! And Miriam can't cast the Patronus Charm!"

There was a pause between all of them, until suddenly, Iris' eyes widened as the shadows started to shiver once again.

"It's returning! Ready your wands!" commanded Lockhart.

"No, wait! I've got an idea! What if we don't use the Patronus Charm, but another Light polarized charm, one that would be a much more uniform field?"

Lockhart frowned. "Like what? The soul judgment? But that's a regular focused spell."

"I'm thinking Interdictio Mendacium," replied the blonde woman. "If you cast that at it, and keep it up for a while, it might just work!"

Lockhart was shooting nervous glances between Mathilda and Robert, as well as the window that seemed to be growing darker still.

"I... well, I'm not actually sure I could cast that spell. It's very high-level polarized magic, you see? Not exactly the material that's taught at Hogwarts..."

He got a raised eyebrow in return as the woman mouthed what looked like the words at Hogwarts.

"...Fine. I'll try it, then. Don't expect too much, though. I only vaguely heard about it during my trip to Bolivia. No idea if I can actually cast it."

Mathilda got up and took her position in her corner of the room, just as the shadowy outline started slipping back into the room, much to the terror of the other woman. "Gather some polarized magic of your own, just to box it in and prevent it from fleeing too early, and only drop it once the spell is active."

Lockhart and Robert nodded hesitantly and complied. The Lethifold was shivering, but it wasn't fleeing yet. Its edges started to blur a bit, but it continued its path towards the woman sitting in the center of the room, looking terrified out of her mind.

The blonde had her eyes closed and was moving her wand in a repeated circular motion, swipe, jab, twist, swipe, jab, twist, each time slightly rotated further clockwise. As she went on, the glowing white tip almost seemed to trail a faint white line of magic in the air, as if she were inscribing something onto the very fabric of reality itself. A command, an absolute law, that no falsehood shall be spoken within this place. Finally, her eyes snapped open, and she whispered "Interdictio Mendacium."

Iris felt a sort of tingling sensation rush down her spine as she noticed the room being flooded by color. They all blurred together, and as quickly as it had started, it was over. The room was now noticeably brighter, even though there didn't seem to be any light source at all. It was just... the shadows had been pushed back. The same way Lockhart's office had looked like when he had interrogated them.

But there was one thing which the spell had an immediate noticeable effect upon. The Lethifold. It was blurring, its edges were contorting—like an old CRT TV with bad reception; but unlike before, it wasn't being forced in any particular direction.

Robert had stumbled towards Miriam and dragged her away from the center, shielding her with his body, while Lockhart kept staring with a mix of worry and fascination. Iris turned to look back at the final occupant of the room, who was swaying on her feet, her wand gripped tightly in her hand. It looked like the spell had taken a lot out of her—was still taking its toll, in fact. Breathing deeply, she collapsed onto one knee, causing the light in the room to flicker for a bit, but she managed to keep her balance, and soon, the brightness stabilized again.

Minutes ticked away, and Iris was holding her breath as she watched. This was the truth, wasn't it? The truth behind Lockhart's books. Luna had been right. Mathilda sounded like an amazing person. She had apparently traveled the world, learning magic beyond the curriculum, and hadn't hesitated to throw everything into a Hail Mary and do what was necessary to save her friend. Yet if you read the book, she was basically a side character who had been working as the barkeep's assistant, while Lockhart performed all the deeds that had in truth been the amazing achievements of the blonde who had been far in over her head and yet still had come out victorious.

But something still didn't make sense.

How had nobody ever found out, if there had really been several investigations into this? Had he really used memory charms on everyone? If so, how did they not detect them? Especially if Snape had been able to do so pretty easily with her now?

And also, why did he keep giving away all his money, if he just cared about the fame anyway? Was it just for the extra notoriety? But the same could be achieved by just giving away half of it, she guessed? Was it some kind of guilt?

There was an unearthly scream, and Iris' eyes snapped up as she noticed a bright white line forming across the shadow, almost like a crack made of pure light. Soon, a second crack joined the first, then another. The Lethifold distorted for one final time, until there was a sound of shattering glass and the unfortunate soul was being torn into hundreds of tiny pieces which scattered to the wind. The blonde collapsed to the ground, and Lockhart wasted no time in approaching her, and helping her to her feet.

"Mathilda, that was incredible! We did it! It really was destroyed!"

The woman gathered herself, and gave him an exhausted smile. "Yes, I suppose we did... But more importantly, Miri is now safe."

"That is true. The monster was defeated and the maiden is rescued," he chuckled to himself.

"Makes for an appropriate end for your next book, don't you think?" she shot him a grin.

Robert had now joined them with a relieved smile, fresh drinks in hand, which he handed out to both of them. Lockhart gratefully took the offered beverage from him, and raised it up.

"To your next story," Mathilda raised a toast, and Lockhart followed suit, draining the small glass in one go.

"I don't think anyone's ever managed to document the destruction of a Lethifold before! You suppose we should call it the Mathilda Method?"

"I-" Lockhart began but suddenly choked before he got any further words out.

Mathilda gave him a look. "Too cheesy? Sure, I guess. How would you call it then? You're the author, how are you gonna name it?"

Lockhart gave her a hesitant smile, opened his mouth, but didn't manage any more words, which caused the blonde to frown. "Gilderoy? What's wrong?"

Lockhart met her eyes and his face was rapidly paling. Her eyes widened in realization and Iris watched with painful clarity as the woman put all the facts together, and drew the wrong conclusion. She put her wand down to furiously rummage through her bag, and fished a small stone out of it. "I-I've got a bezoar right here!"

He was still staring, his eyes darting between Robert and her, until his hand came up and caught hers, still holding the stone.

Finally, he managed to speak. "Thank you, but there's no need for that."

His wand came up in his other hand, and a bright red flash burst forth, past Mathilda's back and nailed Robert square in the chest.

"I'm sure I'll be able to come up with something... a little different."

The woman's face had turned from shock to realization and was now firmly on its path into despair, probably wishing she hadn't left her wand on the desk behind her. Lockhart's wand came up, but before Iris could make out his words, the ground convulsed underneath her feet and she felt herself being dragged up, up and up, all the way until she was flung out of the bowl and back into her bed.

"Miss Potter?"

Iris jumped, and whirled at the voice of her head of house. Only a second later she realized that it had come from outside her door.

She hastily shoved the silver bowl underneath her blanket, straightened her robes and replied "Sir?"

The door came open, and revealed the tall and dark form of Professor Snape. He entered the room slowly, closed the door behind him, then just stood there.

Finally, after several awkward seconds, he moved over to the chair next to her desk and sat down, facing her.

"No," came a single word.

Iris blinked. "No?"

"No," he repeated. "I will not attempt to break the memory charm... yet."

Iris' eyes narrowed. "Why?" she demanded.

"I have discussed this with the headmaster at length, and we can agree on one thing. I have a very strong... suspicion about what it is that is hidden underneath the Memory Charm, and if my suspicions are correct, attempting to lift the charm now would be extremely... unwise, seeing how you do not know even the slightest bit of Occlumency."

Iris blinked. "Occlumency? What's that?"

Snape sighed. "Exactly my point. Occlumency is the practice of protecting one's mind from magical intrusion. If I am correct in this, then we cannot remove the charm unless you have reached a sufficient level of Occlumency, otherwise, the consequences might be... dire."

But... but she had to know! And she had to know now! It could still be related to Harry! Although Harry was probably fine anyway, but... But still, she didn't know for sure! And also, she wanted to know! She wanted to know who the heir had been, and what had happened, and why Lockhart had cast that memory charm, or even if it had been him, but that seemed almost like a certainty right now.

"The headmaster has granted you special permission to receive occlumency lessons over the coming year. You will meet with me every Friday evening starting the first week of the coming September."

What? Only next year? They were going to leave her in the dark for a year? Well, screw that. If anything, what she had just seen only minutes before had solidified her resolve that no matter what, she had to remember. Even if he had done it to protect her, if he did things like that, there was no way she'd trust that that was all there was to it.

"Why can't we start now?" Iris demanded with narrowed eyes.

Snape looked at her with a strange expression and sighed. "Occlumency is not something that can simply be learned on a whim. It takes time, and careful practice, and most importantly, an experienced partner to practice with. Especially if you are trying to reach the level required for what may be... necessary if my suspicions about your memories turn out correct."

"What about Harry? He's still missing! It could be important for finding him!" Iris desperately exclaimed.

Snape shot her a pained look, but one second later, it was gone. "Mister Potter will no doubt be gracing us with his... presence sooner than any of us would prefer. I assure you, the staff has things well in hand."

Well, he could assure all he wanted, but Iris still had no idea what was happening to him... even if he was probably fine. He... he was... Iris eyes suddenly were drawn down to her wrist.

"I will see you coming September, then. Don't be late," and with that, he got up and left her room.

Iris was still staring down at her wrist. Or rather, the bracelet adorning it. Usually, she'd felt at least... something, once every day or so. But so far, there had been absolutely nothing.

"Where are you, Harry?"