Girl Who Escaped {Harry Potter: The Goblet of Fire} [BEING EDITED]

[4] Beauxbatons & Durmstrang

EDITED

January 5, 2014

If you find any grammatical/spelling errors, please politely let me know. I am not a professional, nor do I claim to be an experienced author. I do make mistakes that I am trying to clean up.

...

[Chapter 4: Beauxbatons and Durmstrang.]

Our lessons were becoming more demanding than ever before, particularly Moody's Defense Against the Dark Arts. Excelling the way I did, this was no problem for me, but I knew most of the other students were having trouble keeping up.

　To our surprise, Professor Moody had announced that he would be putting the Imperius Curse on each of us in turn, to demonstrate its power and to see whether or not we could resist its effects.

　"But-- but you said it's illegal, Professor," said Hermione uncertainly as Moody cleared away the desks with a sweep of his wand, leaving a large clear space in the middle of the room. "You said -- to use it against another human was--"

　"Dumbledore wants you taught what it feels like," said Moody, his magical eye swiveling onto Hermione and fixing her with an eerie, unblinking stare. "If you'd rather learn the hard way-- when someone's putting it on you so they can control you completely-- fine by me. You're excused. Off you go."

　He pointed one gnarled finger toward the door. Hermione went very pink and muttered something about not meaning that she wanted to leave. Knowing Hermione the way I did, I knew she would rather eat bubotuber pus than miss such an important lesson.

　Moody began to beckon students forward in turn and put the Imperius Curse upon them.

　I watched as, one by one, my classmates did the most extraordinary things under its influence. Dean Thomas hopped three times around the room, singing the national anthem. 

      Harry had been the closest to throwing off the curse: the result was that under Moody's influence he'd been told to jump on the desk. He fought it, and ended up smashing headlong into the desk knocking it over, and seemed to have hurt both his knees.

　"Ivory," Moody growled. "You."

　I moved forward into the middle of the classroom, into the space that Moody had cleared of desks. Moody raised his wand, pointed it at me, and said, "Imperio!"

　I suppose to others the type of feeling the spell created might have felt wonderful, but I didn't like it. The curse washed over me gently, trying to subdue my mind into a blank slate, but I wouldn't allow it. There was no way someone as crazy and unstable as Moody was about to be in control of my actions.

　And then I heard Mad-Eye Moody's voice, echoing in some distant chamber of my fighting brain: sing the Sorting Hat's song... sing...

　I felt the tightening of my vocal chords wanting to do so, but it was very brief.

　Another voice, my voice, had awoken in the back of my brain.

　Haha, no, said my own voice.

　Sing the Sorting Hat's song...

　No, I don't think I will, thanks, my voice said. I even sounded sarcastic in my own head. . . sounds stupid.

　Sing! NOW!

     I had had enough; I pushed the drug-like feeling from my body and felt the empty, echoing feeling in my head suddenly disappear. I took a deep breath and looked up very firmly at Moody.