The first time I noticed anything was when I started lying to people. They weren’t big lies but they were big enough that people noticed. Things like, “I’ve eaten a big breakfast” when you live with one person is fine but when there are eight people living there who all ate breakfast and saw you eat nothing, it becomes silly. I learnt to be a lot more cunning and to think on my feet. I transfigured things to look as though I’d eaten. Or absorbed them. Something I was becoming much more skilful at doing. Most of the time though I wasn’t eating it.

As always, a new term starts and I dreaded the first day of school. The first thing? A Feast. It was my sixth year. I was shaking, I was sore as I looked at all my friends. I made excuses. I made excuses for everything. I ate a bit but it didn’t take pain away. On the outside everything looked the same. On the inside I was different.

New classes began and I could feel a strain on my body. Again, I made excuses. Everyone said “needs a bit more time”. Bed early. No breakfast. A week into term and the pressure was mounting. I couldn’t do any of it on my own. I eventually started eating. I had no choice in the matter. But I was in pain. I was exhausted. I was taking several classes that didn’t actually need any spell casting so that was fine but several, I dreaded. I didn’t know what to do or say. These were complicated spells and I wasn’t managing them properly. Three weeks in and my uncle was getting suspicious. It wasn’t about how I looked. It was more about the way I acted. I was usually happy, fun and sharp. But I had become lazy, moody & irregular. By the first week of October I was collapsing in nearly every class.