"Fifth Year"

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Lenora POV:
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Something felt off as we started walking further into the labyrinth. The air felt thick and humid, as if it could have been slowly suffocating us.

The deeper into the maze we went, the brighter the light around us got. At one point the light started to hurt our eyes and we had to squint just to be able to see anything. Despite the painfully bright light, we kept moving.

Soon enough it got so bright that it was impossible for us to see at all. The light around us suddenly intensified and I had to squeeze my eyes shut.

While my eyes were closed I felt a shift in my surroundings and the sound of someone calling my name filled my ears.

"Miss Scamander?"

My green eyes flew open and I realized that I was in the transfiguration classroom. I was seated at my desk, the curious eyes of my classmates and Professor McGonagall watching me closely.

"Yes, Professor?" I asked trying to hide my confusion and shock.

"I had asked if you were paying attention, Miss Scamander." The Scottish Woman stated, raising a stern brow.

"Yes, Professor." I replied quickly, scanning the amused faces of my classmates. My eyes met the concerned gaze of Sirius, James, and Remus.

James and Sirius sat at the desk in front of me, while Remus sat beside me. I avoided their questioning looks, as McGonagall addressed me again.

"Is that so?" She asked knowingly, her expression telling me that she didn't believe a word I'd said. "Well, then you wouldn't mind answering the question on the board, Miss Scamander?"

"Of course." I stammered nervously, before turning my gaze to the chalkboard at the front of the room. My heart dropped in my chest as I very quickly realized something was wrong.

I couldn't read a thing.

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Remus POV:

I sat at Nora's bedside in the hospital wing, holding my best friend's hand as I watched her lie unconscious. My hazel eyes watching as the strawberry blonde took routine, steady breaths.

James and Sirius were doing some snooping around Slytherin House with the help of some polyjuice potion that I'd whipped up. I had offered to be on Nora Watch, since Peter was asking the house elves if they'd seen anything on the day of Nora's attack.

Lily and Timothée had been forced by McGonagall to attend their classes, by threat of detention with Filch.

The two of them had been visiting Nora every day since the accident. Lily still felt guilty about what happened. Timothée couldn't seem to forgive himself for not being there to prevent it from happening in the first place.

After a huge argument with James the day of the accident (James was angry at Timothée for not protecting her better, due to him being Nora's boyfriend), the Lafayette boy told us everything. About what happened that night in the astronomy tower, Nora's feelings for James, and their plan to make him jealous.

We all found it quite humorous, due to the fact that we'd had a similar plan to make Nora jealous and that Olivia was in on it.

Olivia (James' fake girlfriend), who despite not knowing Nora very well, still came to see her every once in a while and frequently asks us for updates on the strawberry blonde.

Despite how exhausted I was after the events of last night's full moon, I refused to let myself sleep while my favorite hufflepuff continued to be in the state that she was.

Long story short, everyone seems a little more lost as the days pass by and Nora continues not to wake up.

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Lenora POV:

"I have to get out of here." I muttered and tried to reign in my fear.

"What?" McGonagall asked in confusion, as I pushed my chair away from the desk and got up from my seat.

"Miss Scamander, what is the meaning of this? Where in the name of Merlin do you think you're going?!"

I didn't answer her or my friends, who were calling out to me as I dashed out of the classroom. I had to find Harry, so that we could get out of here.

I didn't know whether it was a monster or some powerful spell that had created this illusion of safety, but whatever or whoever it was that did this, was smart.

This thing had put the two of us into this scarily realistic mirage and split us up. It separated me from the one person that knew the most about the labyrinth.

I had to admit that I was somewhat impressed. This thing had isolated me from my guide and dropped me in a complete copy of a place that I felt safest. For a second there it actually had me believing that everything that had happened with the labyrinth was just a dream, a figment of my imagination.

I sprinted through the corridors of 'Hogwarts', bumping into random students as I searched each room for my missing companion.

Just as I'd passed where Dumbledore's office would have been, I noticed a set of large, intricately made wooden doors.

"Now, that's definitely not right." I muttered to myself with a furrowed brow, as I stopped in my tracks.

The sound of hurried footsteps echoed down the corridor and a worried shout of my name erupted from quite a ways behind me.

I turned around to find 'James', 'Sirius' and 'Remus' running up to me. I had to remind myself that these weren't my boys, they were an illusion created to make me fall for the last trial's trick.

"Nora, what happened back there?" 'Remus' asked with a furrowed brow as they joined me in front of the double doors.

"Are you alright, Love?" 'James' asked, concern pooling in his familiar blue eyes.

"Gave us a bit of a scare back there, Little Red." 'Sirius' told me with a chuckle. I rolled my eyes, the real Sirius knew how much I despised  that nickname.

"I'm fine, boys." I lied through my teeth, trying not to give away that I knew that everything around me was a trap. "Just needed a little air, I felt like I was being suffocated back in McGonagall's classroom."

"You lot know how stuffy it can get in there sometimes." I continued trying to sell the act as well as possible. "Decided to go for a walk and stumbled across this place. Where'd Professor Dumbledore's office go? It's usually right here."

"Didn't you hear, Darling? Dumbledore's remodeling his office, apparently he thought that the magical Phoenix stairwell was a bit too much." 'James' told me, wrapping an arm around my waist and planting a kiss on my temple.

"Mates, keep the romantic couple shit to a minimum, yeah? Me and Remus prefer not to vomit in our mouths every time the two of you are together." The illusion of Sirius joked, further proving my hunch.

"I say we take a peek at dear ol' Albus'  decorative progress. What do you lot say?" 'Remus' suggested and I had to restrain myself from rolling my eyes at how poorly this trail attempted to capture the boys' personalities.

"Sure, I'm curious to see what old Dumbledore's got in his office. Care for a bit of snooping, lads?" I asked, feigning a mischievous grin. The doppelgängers of my friends all grinned at me and nodded in agreement.

"You two go on ahead, I need a moment alone with my girl." 'James' told the other two, keeping his hold on my waist.

"Have fun, you two!" 'Sirius' teased us, making kissy faces at 'James' and I.

As the other two disappeared through the doors, my heart began to pound nervously. I wasn't happy about being left alone with a doppelgänger of my crush that was created by the labyrinth to lure me into its trap.

Before I could find an excuse to leave, I felt a pair of lips being pressed against my own. My eyes widened in shock at the situation I'd found myself in.

The doppelgänger of the boy that I'd been in love with for years was currently making out with me. It felt wrong, because this wasn't my James. This was an illusion created by the labyrinth.

Before I could comprehend what the hell I was going to do, 'James' started to pull away from the kiss. So, I closed my eyes and pretended like I'd completely believed that this was real.

"Are you sure that you're alright, Love?" He asked, familiar blue eyes peering down into my own. "You seem a little tense?"

"You just took me by surprise, handsome." I replied in a feigned sultry voice. "I'm much more ready for that now."

Without giving the doppelgänger a chance to see through my act, I reached around the back of his neck with one of my hands and pulled 'James'' copy into a kiss.

'James' tightened his hold around my waist and pulled me flush against his body. Playing the part, I ran my hands through his curls and 'smiled' into the kiss.

Despite how wrong it all felt, I knew that I had to make it believable if I was going to get out of the labyrinth alive. If I had to play the part of the doting girlfriend and clueless victim to throw the person or thing that created this illusion off of my game, then so be it.

Game on, asshole.