Chapter 43.1- Doom Days

“Riddiklulus” I muttered for the umpteenth time, turning this version of myself into a pale fascimile of a ghost that lost its tether to the ground and floated off into the ceiling. I chuckled. That one was actually almost funny. The creature winced but apart from that just continued its footing. It was the tenth boggart I was facing in a row, and after the second, they had stopped triggering my rage, instead triggering a sort of amusement on my end. It was funny just how many they were. Especially since part of me was certain that Hogwarts hadn’t imported any of the creatures for this task. They were just part of the castle’s ecosystem— as much as the ghosts or the suits of armour were.

I rounded another corner and a ghost— a woman wearing a tattered gown screamed in my face. I winced at the sound before offering her a deadpan look.. A wave of my wand reduced the sensitivity of my hearing— the exact opposite of the extrasensory charm but localized and applied to my ears alone.. Switching the intention of certain spells and thus their effect had been something that Flitwick and I had been working on before our working relationship came to its end.

When she finished screaming, I reversed the spell before asking her in my most done with this shit tone, “Are you about done?”

“No reaction, Potter?”

“None. Now do I have to be rude and pass through you or are you going to get out of the way”

She huffed and passed through me instead, leaving me with a sense of a chill about my whole body as she flew away muttering about the impertinence of youth. I didn’t even know her name. Hogwarts was the most haunted place in Britain and it seemed that even the ghosts that usually avoided students like the plague were coming out to get a view of the proceedings of the task. I ignored a head that poked out from the ceiling as I made my way around the last bend and found myself before a familiar portrait as it was swinging itself shut. Fuck, someone made it here first. I marched forward and tickled the pear but there was no reaction. It was frozen still. I took a step back and only then noticed some writing at the bottom of the portrait in latin— ‘probare tuum valorem’. Prove your worth, I translated while staring at the pear. Now just how was I supposed to do that.

I heard footsteps behind me and just as I prepared myself to disillusion, I heard the voice. “Don’t even think about it Potter. I’ve got a one-way transparency charm on this wall and I can see you about to disillision yourself” Diggory’s voice rang out. I chuckled and abandoned the attempt, taking a step back to welcoming the Hogwarts Champion’s arrival.

“You made it here pretty quick” I said. Even to my ears it sounded like an accusation.

“Followed Krum. He’s loud and never checks his back so it was easy enough.” He said easily, tossing his wand in the air and catching it again.