Chapter 22: Madness

Victoire flew into consciousness, scrambling for her textbooks lying on the side table. 'You don't need to do this, you don't need to do this –'

Yes, you do, yes, you do, yes, you do…

"Vic, what are you looking for?" came Teddy's voice beside her.

Whirling around, she frowned when she saw nothing but an empty room. Hadn't she just heard him?

You're going crazy. Seeing things that aren't there, hearing voices that aren't real… Why would he be here? You're mad. Morgandy Hallows wouldn't be hearing voices.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no…" Victoire muttered, spreading out her books on the bed in front of her. "Okay, okay. No, no, this is all wrong…"

'Don't need to do this, don't need to do this…'

Yes, you do, yes, you do, yes, you do…

Herbology. Defense Against the Dark Arts. Transfiguration. Arithmancy. Potions. No, it was all wrong…

'Don't need to do this, don't need to do this…'

Yes, you do, yes, you do, yes, you do…

Arithmancy. Herbology. Potions. Transfiguration. Charms. Defense Against the Dark Arts. No, it was still wrong….

'Don't need to do this, don't need to do this…'

Yes, you do, yes, you do, yes, you do…

Why couldn't she make it right?

"Vic, what are you doing?"

Victoire resisted the urge to turn around. No. She wasn't going to give the voices in her head the satisfaction of winning again. Maybe if they lost enough times, they would stop altogether. No, that didn't make any sense.

Everything was just wrong.

"Victoire," he repeated.

Hands trembling, Victoire spread out the textbooks again. Potions. Charms. Herbology. No, it was all wrong…

"Vic, I'm actually here. What's wrong?" An arm slid around her waist, pulling her away from her books.

Great. Now she was feeling things that weren't real. Damn it, those books were the key. If she could just get them right, everything would be fine…

Charms. Arithmancy. Defense Against the Dark Arts…