The Black Queen | F. Weasley

10. Suppressed memories

Harry was the first who had to go through the woman's examinations, it was nothing too worrisome. She just looked in both Harry's eyes with a small lamp and checked if everything reacted the right way. After that she muttered several spells which turned up with nothing and she smiled brightly.

"Like I thought, completely healthy, you may go or you may wait for Miss Black until she's finished...?"

Harry turned to look at Salem whom shook her head and smiled gently. "You're exhausted, and don't try to play it down, I saw you yawning all throughout the meal. Go ahead without me, I'm right behind you."

The boy nodded, gave her a quick hug before he went on his way. Salem's eyes followed his movements until he he disappeared around the corner.

"Are you ready Miss Black?"

Salem nodded and let Madam Pomfrey do her examinations. Everything went wonderful until the nurse arrived at the last spell. The woman frowned and tried again, but the spell was blocked from inside Salem's body. It was supposed to check if every part in her brain was working coherently, but got blocked by a certain part which couldn't be reached.

"Can you tell me what happened when the dementor entered the compartment Miss Black?"

Salem tensed up at the question, she didn't want to relive that horrible moment. The nurse saw the girl's reluctance of sharing the story and regarded her reaction with concerned eyes.

"If you don't tell me what happened, than I won't be able to help you, Salem." Madam Pomfrey said and squeezed the girl's shoulder comfortingly.

She breathed in deeply and reluctantly told what happened on the train. "Well, I don't remember what happened exactly, because the dementor affected me quite badly. But Fred filled me in..."

She recalled Fred's explanation and the nurse nodded along encouragingly. Salem was done with the tale within a minute and Madam Pomfrey frowned, deep in thought.

"What did you see? When the dementor focused on you, did you see or hear anything?" The woman eventually asked.

Salem's breath got stuck in her throat and her hands trembled slightly, but she mustered all her courage and softly told Madam Pomfrey about what happened to her.

"At first I just stiffened and felt unhappy, empty and cold. My uncle has taught how to defend myself against dementors, I'm not able to produce a corporeal patronus, but an incorporeal one I can manage. But I couldn't do anything, I couldn't move, I was afraid..."

Salem stared off into the distance and licked her lips. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly as she recalled the clear and cold voice that had filled her mind.

"All of a sudden there was a voice, it was so cold and clear, I was terrified of it even though I had never heard it before. I had goosebumps all over my body. It told me that my father had given me to him and that we would do great things together.

"He would make me his right hand if all went well."

Her eyes had gone distant and her voice had gotten quieter and quieter as she got further and further in her tale.

"He didn't say anything to me after that, but my mind was filled with a bright purple flash and my body hurt all over... I heard a blood curling scream, but Fred later on told me that I was the one who was screaming and that I probably heard myself."

Madam Pomfrey heard her swallow audibly and she couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor girl. The woman had an inkling about what was going on.

"I don't know why I was terrified of that voice, it was as if my body had heard it before and knew what was going to happen..."