Chapter 46
Darkness pressed against Harry’s senses, thick and suffocating.
He knew where he was before he even opened his eyes.
The air was cold, unnaturally so. The silence stretched, broken only by the faint clicking sound—slow, deliberate.
Her.
Harry exhaled sharply, bracing himself as he turned.
There she stood.
The Nun.
Her black habit blended into the shadows, her pale, corpse-like face emerging from the darkness like a ghostly specter. Those sunken, unnatural eyes bore into him, unblinking.
Harry swallowed down the shudder crawling up his spine.
“You—” His voice came out hoarse. He forced himself to stand straighter, to meet her gaze even as something in him screamed to look away. “Why did you do that?”
No response.
The silence was worse than anything she could have said.
Harry took a step forward. He had faced down a troll, a Cerberus, even Voldemort himself—he would not cower now.
He clenched his fists. “I didn’t ask for your help,” he said, his voice steadier now. “You—you just took over. I don’t want that.”
Still, she didn’t speak.
But she did move.
Not like a person would. Not naturally. One second, she was in front of him, the next—closer. Her presence pressed against him, suffocating and heavy, like unseen fingers curling around his throat.
Harry forced himself to stay still.
“I don’t want this,” he repeated, but this time, there was an edge to his voice.
The Nun tilted her head, the motion sharp, inhuman. Then, finally—
A whisper.
So faint, so raspy, Harry wasn’t sure if it was even a voice or something else.
“You are… mine.”
The words sent ice crawling down his spine, settling like lead in his stomach.
Harry’s breath hitched. His mind screamed at him to wake up, to break free, but his body was frozen in place.
The Nun didn’t move closer, but the air around her shifted. Like the shadows themselves bent to her will, curling and stretching toward him.
And then, just as suddenly as it had begun—
He woke up.
Heart hammering.
Breath shallow.
The room was dark, the only sound his own ragged breathing.
Harry swallowed, pressing a hand to his chest.
He wasn’t scared. Not like before.
But he didn’t like this.
Didn’t like her.
Didn’t like what she had done.
And more than anything—
He didn’t like that he couldn’t escape her.