CONFUNDUS; harry potter [UNDER EDITION]

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

"It's been a while, Lucca. Do you remember me?" Moegelin steps forward, dropping a bag on the table as she speaks. "Of course you do. We had a splendid time in St Mungos, didn't we?"

"Don't get cocky, Prim," says one of the Adams. "Get on business. They boy is restless."

Moegelin bores her eyes on him as Lucca writhes against the ropes secure tightly around him. He doesn't need Moegelin inside his head. He can't let her in. She will tell Pandora everything, every single one of his secrets; the time travel, the Grim, Rita's investigation. She might see parts of himself he doesn't want to be exposed; Lucca's biggest fears, Harry's fate, the end of the war. It's dangerous.

Grim. Grim, come here. Please. Please. Death, save me.

Lucca tries to gather his conversations with Harry after his sessions with Snape. He tries to remember exactly how Harry described but Snape hadn't been helpful there, and Harry was too pissed to actually talk to Lucca afterwards. Lucca thinks of a white plain wall but emotions are running high. He moves restless against the ropes. His whole body burns at the magic attempting to escape. Something else is happening. He can do wandless magic, why he can't perform it right now? Is he too scared to die? Pandora won't let him. She will torture him until he speaks if he doesn't submit his mind now. Lucca doesn't know which option is worse.

"She must be cautious," Pandora says. "The boy has suffered a big deal of brain damage. If he gets hurt, I would be really disappointed."

The sharp glare Pandora gives Moegelin sets her up to work. She flicks a wand on her bag and a phial with bluish liquid flies to her hand. She passes it on the Adam who is holding Lucca down. Lips shut down, Lucca avoids the potion as much as possible. Pandora grows irritated and his captor nervous. Fisting a handful of hair, Adam yanks Lucca's head backwards, forcing the potion down his throat. He coughs, choking on its contents but it is not until he swallows the potion entirely, Adam withdraws.

"A tranquil dose," says Moegelin. "Surely you know about those."

Lucca feels the effects of the dose at once. His limbs turns wobbly and his mind is dizzy. He blinks at them, their faces are blurry. Everything moves slowly around him. Moegelin must have gave him a strong dose, it shouldn't feel like this.

"Legilimens!"

The blurry drawing room vanishes in front of his eyes. It morphs into various images and sounds — it's too noisy, too overwhelming. Memory after memory emerge from the darkest corners of his mind. Microseconds of each blind Lucca even more as they continue appearing repeatedly, one after another. He tries to grasp something irrelevant to distract Moegelin but he can't even collect the remains of force. He can't fight the intrusion. Lucca feels her move free. She searches for something but seems to be lost in the amount of pictures flickering in Lucca's head. For once, his fucked-up brain seems to be on his side. A sour taste on his mouth alerts him, he feels like throwing up. He might have done so as Moegelin remains trapped in pieces of his memories, some are blend together, others come in sharp cuts. He wonders if he can possibly dizzy her sending more and various, and the idea is there until Moegelin halts on more concrete memories. Lucca sees himself. He is nine, healers are surrounding him, wands up, charts of his tests floating around him. Lucca sees his mother, Francesca, standing on the fair corner of the room, holding an orange stuffed dragon for him. Moegelin doesn't take interest in this memory but Lucca wants to go back, he wants to be with his mother. His thoughts lead to another memory of her; Francesca's voice whispers tenderly against his ear, one of her fingers traces the constellations on the window. 'That star in the far corner, that one is the planet Venus! It's the second planet nearest the Sun, which means...' Lucca jumps in, excited, 'we can only see him when the sun in the horizon! Sunsets or sunrise!'