Worlds Collide (crossover fanfiction)

Chapter 23

Fear is everything. You must fear something. What do you fear? The boggart pressed onto Thea's mind, making her cry out, as she thought and fought against it. Some of the third years looked at her strangely, wondering why the boggart hadn't changed its form yet. But once again, Thea was reminded that her natural affinity was for physical combat, not mental manipulation. And she was about to break.

Berniss broke into the conversation, struggling to contact the older girl. Hey! Thea! You okay? She really hoped nothing would happen to Thea, because even though she had her own friends in her year, nothing beat having a telepathic buddy.

I'm trying to fight the boggart, but it's too- agh! "Agh!" Thea yelled, hands pressed against her head as the boggart finally broke through, and the last traces of the boggart's influence in her mind disappeared, already satisfied from what it had gotten.

Thea! Berniss ran to Thea's side. Hey! Are you okay? But according to your conversation with the boggart I think not.

Thea swept away the younger girl with a thrust, her silver energy coating Berniss as she dumped her to aside, removing her from the line of fire. The boggart began to change, first appearing as a black smog, slowly growing in size. Thea forced her heart to calm, trying not to hyperventilate.

Alistair yelled, rushing to his sister's side. "Arthella Dianne Carter, if you hurt my sister, I swear, you will pay!" Berniss sat up, waving a hand dismissively. She should be fine. Or so she thought, as she slumped back down to the floor.

"Keep her away from the boggart, Alistair! I don't want anything in between me and the monster." Fear was starting to creep into Thea's mind now, as the darkness grew, coating the room, surrounding each and every one of them in it's thick black smoke. It was like being suffocated, trapped in darkness, and only the daughter of Pluto was immune to the darkness, but it was definitely still annoying her. Thea however, was starting to shake, her knees about to buckle as the dark figure grew larger. She knew where it was going, and she wasn't prepared. She would never be.

The boy nodded, hauling his unmoving sister away. Kia shouted in alarm, waving her hands. "Stupid shadows! You follow me, remember!" She hissed through gritted teeth, but the darkness remained swirling around her legs. "I'm a daughter of Pluto, you stupid arse shadows!" With a flick of her wrist, she flattened the shadows around her to the floor, narrowing her eyes in order to find Thea.

Thea turned to look at the other students and her friends. She struggled to see most of them, only able to due to the slight silver sheen she had taken, and she spotted several third years huddled in corners, tears streaming down their faces as they held each other tightly in fear. Thea felt her own control start to slip as her fear took control, and slowly she lost sight of everyone, drowning in her own fears.

There was a short, girlish shriek from Alistair, who he had deposited outside. "AHHHHH! WHY IS IT SO DARK?" He ran blindly across the room, crashing into Kia and sending them both tumbling to the floor. He fumbled around in the dark for her hand, gripping it tightly. "I'm scared, Kit. I don't want to **** in my pants." He swore repeatedly, and Kia covered his lips with her free hand. The third years really shouldn't be listening to people swearing.

"My greatest fear. Not the dark, but what lies within." Thea managed to blurt out, and soon, two quasar eyes gleamed from the darkness, and a mocking laugh echoed through the room. So this is your fear. The Lady of the Night which summoned you to the abyss, which forced you into slumber. The boggart whispered in her mind. Memories flashed into her mind, visions of the terrors inside the Mansion of the Night, falling from the sky, shrapnel ripping through her body, her bones shattering as she shot towards the ground, and the agony as she held on to Chronos's sphere of Time, imprisoned in a loop of pain. "Agh!" Thea's silver energy began to pulse, like seismic waves from the epicentre of an earthquake, as she crumpled to the floor. "You cannot defeat me, boggart! I am Thea Carter, daughter of the moon, sea and wisdom, goddess of time itself, and the Bane of the Night! And I will not yield! Never!" She screamed, this time in her head, and shouted at the monster. Yes, I fear you. But I won't let that control me.

"You have to laugh at it, Thea!" Gavin shouted from the other side of the room. He stood protectively in front of a huddling group of third years, wand pointed at the boggart. "Or I can just stuff it back in the box!"

Gavin's voice fell to deaf ears, and in one blast, Thea disintegrated the boggart, wrecking half of the room, and crumpled to the floor one final time. She knew that the others were crowding around her worried, so she slowly got back up to her feet, gold-white energy circling her hands. She lifted her arms, and the golden sparks lifted from her hands like confetti, and they slowly reverted the room to how it once was. "I'm sorry. I lost control." Thea confessed. "Now, why don't I take a turn on leading Defence against the Dark Arts. The American way. Professor Silverdrake?"

Gavin closed his eyes. "How am I going to explain this to Mcgonagal? Oh, I'm so screwed."

"What she doesn't know won't hurt her." Thea smiled, before she sent another wave of silver energy throughout the room, blocking all access to magical items, including wands. "Now, class, I am going to teach you about defence against the dark arts without your wands."

Alistair yelped as Thea used her silver magic thing to basically 'expelliarmus' the entire class. His wand flew out of his hands, but Kia still had hers. She grinned. "It's not like I know how to use that thing anyway." She stood up, brushing herself off. She reached down to Alistair. "Need any help standing?" He made a face, but accepted her help.

"Let us take the Battle of Hogwarts as an example. There, the great Harry Potter himself had his wand snapped, and relied on other people's wands to fight, but everyone knows using your own specific wand would be the best. But in the midst of battle, not everyone can just borrow a wand to fight. That is why all wizards and witches should be prepared to fight without their trusted wands. I supposed some of you in this room may have some experience in this. Miss Selwyn and Miss Silverdrake would be two prime examples. You may not know it, but Miss Selwyn is an excellent Legilimen, and since none of you reach her standards, you can never hear her inner voice talking to you. Miss Silverdrake, however, is an expert in what you might call Dark Arts, but is actually just a variation of the nox spell. Both can perform this type of magic non verbally, without their wands. Why don't we have an example, Kia?" Just blast me with some shadows, I'll deflect it, just to show them. Thea added as a mental note.

Kia grumbled. "Jeez, fine. I'll make them blunter just in case." She waved a hand. "When you're ready."