I could only hear the sound of ringing bells from the dark and empty void. It was cold, lonely, sickening, heavy. The embrace of death is not bad as they have told me, no eternal damnation, no blistering fire, no bubbling cauldrons, only emptiness.

Regrets? No, I don't think I have any regrets. I have lived a mundane life, I went to school, I went to college, but that’s it, my life ended early, do I hate it? No, I wanted to die anyway, my life before doesn’t have any meaning, everyday doing the same thing repeatedly, over and over again… and suicide isn’t an option, I’d rather choose knowing my parents know that I died naturally or because of some other reasons rather than suicide, I was not raised that way.

The sound of ringing bells started to get louder and louder the more I stayed in that void. From that sound, I could hear the voice of a woman. It was a soothing voice, a soft voice, calling my name repeatedly, ‘Archie, Archie, Archie, Archie….’

The voice. It was simply calming, perhaps it isn’t so bad after all staying here, hearing the voice in this empty and dark space. The ringing sounds turned louder, and with it, the voice. It feels like the space around me became brighter and my body became more and more heavy, like gravity pushing me towards the ground.

And then, with a snap, the void is gone, bringing the ringing sounds with it, but not the voice. All of a sudden, I could feel that I was sitting on a wooden chair, my eyes that were blurry suddenly became clear, only to see floating candles and an abnormally large amount of food in front of me.

The voice was still calling my name from my right side, but I ignored it. I was confused, where am I? I’m suddenly wearing some weird black robes with a blue and bronze scarf around my neck. I looked around, and saw teenagers, wearing the same clothing as me, staring at me either with envy or hate.

The voice kept ringing in my ears, it was honestly starting to get annoying. I could feel that someone was shaking my body from the side, it was a gentle touch, a soft touch. I turned around, only to see a stunningly beautiful young woman, staring at me with her clear blue eyes that had a look of worry in it.

I flinched of course, which also made the young woman beside me release her grip on my shoulder.

“Archie? Are you alright?” she questioned with a thick French accent, which made me more surprised.

On instinct, I stood up, making the other teenagers that were sitting on the same table as me turned. I looked around again, I was in a hall, it looked like a castle, my eyes wandered to what is at the end of the hall. There was an old man sitting in the middle of the table, he was wearing a grayish robe, looking at me with curiosity.

For some reason, in my deepest depth of consciousness, I already know where this is, but it’s impossible, right? My eyes subconsciously wandered to what was in front of me, two tables across mine.

Then I saw it. A boy with round glasses, a lightning bolt scar was on his forehead, he was also looking at me, perhaps my sudden action attracted all of the attendees here.

Someone then touched my shoulder again, which made me squirm. I turned around, only to see a short old man looking at me with confusion.

“Mr. Whitlock, are you unwell?” he asked me softly. I recognised him… he’s… Flitwick… “If you are… I can escort you to the hospital wing.”

I looked around again to the other side, ignoring Flitwick’s words for a few seconds. My gaze wandered to the other side of the hall, only to see a blond boy, sneering at me, his eyes full of malice.

I kept looking at him, not breaking eye contact. “Err… I-I’m alright professor… I-I need to go to the toilet.”

“Are you sure you’re alright, Mr. Whitlock?” the professor questioned again.

“The professor is right, Archie, I think you are unwell.” the previous young woman suddenly touched my arm, and that made me, once again, flinch. I finally took a good look at the young woman, she’s really beautiful… a sight for sore eyes. I turned my gaze to her blond hair, and finally recognised her… Fleur Delacour.

“I-I’m fine Fleur…” I stuttered subconsciously, as if my brain was moving my mouth on its own. “Like I said… I need to go to the toilet.”

“Very well Mr. Whitlock, you are excused.” said Flitwick suddenly, which made me turn to him again.

I just nodded absentmindedly, and I ran towards the big door of the hall, not looking back at all. I opened the door rather forcefully, and I am now in the middle of a dark and gloomy corridor of a castle. To be honest, I didn’t know where the toilet was, but my legs moved on its own, as if it was… muscle memory.

I kept walking through the darkness, seeing all kinds of things throughout. I saw moving paintings, even passing ghosts greeted me. It was shocking to say the least, is this even real? Or is this just a strange dream that would end abruptly… but I died, how can this be?

I entered the toilet quickly as I ran towards the sink nearby. I washed my face, only to see an unfamiliar face in the mirror. I looked… handsome… My hair was all over the place and I looked like I haven’t slept in weeks, but I was dead handsome.

What the hell is going on right now… I kept washing my face, hoping that this is all just a dream and I would wake up from the cold water that is running down my face.

Then it hit me. It was like someone had copied something to my brain, and all of the sudden, I got a lot of information that I needed to digest. I instantly threw up as my stomach continuously churned from the sensation. The place was a mess, with barf all over the place. When the sensation finally disappeared, I took a step back from the messy sink, and kept looking at my unfamiliar reflection in the mirror.

I finally know what was going on.

I’m in the Wizarding World.

—

As I finally realized what the situation I’m in right now, instead of calming down, I panicked. I walked around the toilet nervously hoping that an answer to all this would appear again, but it didn’t.

Archibald Whitlock, that’s my name. My first name is the same, but my last name is different from before. I, or rather, he, had lived alone in the middle of nowhere, inside a castle that is full of locks. That memory screams pureblood privilege, but his other memories proved otherwise.

While rich and capable, Whitlock is alone. No family, no best friends, no lovers, just him in his lonesome in that castle. He is… like me I suppose, no, he’s literally me from before, social anxiety, often misunderstood expressions, generally anti-social…

I stopped walking around as I stared at the mirror again, his, or rather mine now I guess, amber eyes could clearly be seen. His brown messy hair, his straight figure, his tall body, all mine…

I need to get used to this…

Magic… I need to know this concept… fuck… I could die from the war again… but would it be bad that I die? I’ve… I’ve been given a second chance… to live a life… I know that I said to myself that I didn’t regret anything, but this? I can’t just pass this on.

I will not die. I cannot die. I hope not. Not again.

But is it possible? Am I capable enough? Whitlock is a capable man, but am I?

Fuck… this is… a nightmare…

I clenched my fist so hard that my knuckles turned white. I started to try to remember what will happen from now on… Harry Potter films… or is it the books? Is there any difference? Shit, I never read the books…

I leaned on the sink and started to stare at my reflection as I clenched the sink with my hands. This is going to work, I know some things… surely that would be handy… knowledge is everything right? From the looks of it I’m in Ravenclaw.

I need practice… I need a place to practice… to gather knowledge…

Room of Requirements. Yes. That. That should do it… It appears when someone is in great need right? I am in great need right now, I hope it will appear…

God… What should I do… People won’t read my mind right? I need to deal with that… shit, shit, shit, if a death eater knows that I know things, I’m dead… If I screwed up somehow, I’m dead… Heck, can I even trust Dumbledore? The film depicted him as really manipulative… which is really bad…

I should just ignore those three… yes, ignore… try to survive… if I’m confident in my skills, I could survive until graduation.

Okay… the objective is to survive until graduation, accumulate knowledge and power to live happily ever after… maybe find a partner here, but that’s a secondary and possibly impossible for me, so for now, survive.

As I calmed myself down, I could hear loud footsteps from the outside. I quickly turned around, only to see a beautiful young woman from before, Fleur Delacour, looking at me in absolute terror.

“Merde! What ‘appened to you?!” She rushed towards me as if it was the last thing she would do, but I was confused. From the memory, she just sat beside Whitlock and introduced herself, as if they, or I suppose, we, had known each other for a long time.

I stepped back a little, making her stop. “I-I’m sorry… but why are you acting like this? We barely know each other…”

“What?” Fleur was flabbergasted, I could see tears started to swell in her eyes. “You mean you don’t know?”

I am confused of course. “S-Sorry… but I don’t understand what’s going on right now… have we met somewhere before?”

“You don’t know…” She breathed helplessly. “I-I ‘ad thought…”

“Can you explain to me please, what’s going on?” I asked again, trying to find something I didn’t know about the situation, even Whitlock didn’t know.

“I–” But then Fleur started to calm down. She instantly straightened her posture, her eyes became a bit dull. “If you don’t know, then I cannot tell you yet Monsieur Whitlock. I apologize that I behaved rather rudely.”

“What? What do you mean you can’t tell me?” I asked rather forcefully, now it was me who made her flinch.

“My father will explain to you in two days time, after the Triwizard Champions ‘ave been chosen.” she said clearly. “I’m sorry as I misunderstood, I ‘ad thought that you knew already… if you excuse me…”

“Wait!” I tried to stop her, but she seemed adamant on walking away. So I just stood there, confused about what the hell just happened.