My eyes flutter open and I am greeted by the morning sun shining it's rays in my eyes. I squint and roll over, to look at the time. The old, silver alarm clock reads 5:12. It's way too early. I reach up and pull the curtains on my bed closed further, so the sun doesn't peek in. I lie on my stomach and close my eyes, hoping to get an hour extra sleep before school.
I lay there for a while, my eyes tightly closed, but my mind open. I think about Harry. How he's spent the past thirteen years thinking that he is alone. He thought that family was not an option for him. When I was there the whole time, still just as oblivious as him, but still there. I should've been there for him! When no one else was.
When it was clear that sleep would not be returning to me, I flung my legs over my bed and stood up, trying to be silent and not wake the other girls. I cautiously open my trunk and take out my copy of Fantastiv Beasts and Where to Find Them. I wince as I close my trunk, being as quiet as I can. I slip on my slippers and walk down to the Common Room, fully aware that I am still in my pyjamas.
When I reach the bottom of the stairs, I get a clear view of a black haired boy, sitting in front of the fire, scribbling down something on a piece of parchment, rapidly. Harry. I make my way towards him, without him realising and plonk myself down onto the scarlet sofa, next to him. He jumps and turns to look at me. I pull one of the blankets from over the back of the couch and pull it over my cold body. The fire is small and looks like it has been lit all night, which is probably why it wasn't very warming. It crackled away, burning the last pieces of white, ashy wood that were piled on top.
"Couldn't sleep either?" Harry asks, leaning back and sealing an envelope with what looked like a note that had been written very quick and messily inside. I nod my head towards the parchment in his hands.
"What's that?" I ask, placing my book on my lap and shivering.
"Oh, I was writing back to Sirius," Harry says and looks at me huddled up, "Are you cold? Do you want my jacket?"
"Oh no its-" I begin but he had already taken off his jacket and was thrusting it into my hands, "Thanks."
I take it and wrap it around my shoulders, its warm and smells like him. My brother. He's so sweet. I love him.
"I should probably go and send this off," Harry said, holding up the letter. "D'you want to come?"
"Sure!" I say and I swing my legs off the sofa and putting Harry's jacket on properly, shoving my book under my arm.
We climbed through the portrait hole and headed for the Owlery. We walked in silence, admiring the castle at its quietest hours. The morning air was cold on my cheeks and felt good to be breathed in, rather than the hot stuffy air of our dormitory. The sound of our shoes echoed around the empty rooms and walls.
We eventually made our way to the West Tower where the Owlery was located, only being help up by Peeves who tried to lob a large painted vase at our heads.
The Owlery was a large circular room, which was even colder than the rest of the castle, due to the lack of glass in the window frames. Hundreds of owls of all different species sat on perches that reached all the way to the top of the tower and right to the bottom. The ground was scattered with straw, old skeletons and bones of mice and voles and owl droppings.
Harry's eyes frantically scanned the room for Hedwig. He caught a glimpse of some white feathers and an amber eye and rushed over to her, skidding on the hay that covered the floor, in the process. I followed after him, trying not to step on any droppings.
Hedwig shuffled on her perch, at the sight of Harry and turned her back to him, as if to say no. She was obviously still angry at him about his lack of kindness to her the previous night.
It took Harry and I quite a while for us to persuade her to take the letter. However after a while, Harry bribed her with lots of treats and she eventually stuck out her leg and allowed him to tie the letter to it.
"Just find him all right?" Harry says to her "Before the Dementors do."
I give her one big stroke down her spine and she boots appreciatively, she turns to Harry nips his finger, quite hard and flies out of one of the holes in the walls and off into the sunrise.
~
"That's a lie, Harry," Hermione says sharply, after Harry has just finished telling us what he wrote to Sirius about "You know you didn't imagine your scar hurting"
"Oh Harry if I knew that's what you wrote about I would never have let you post it!"
"So what?" Harry says "He's not going back to Azkaban because of me."
"But you just have him false hope, Harry! You made him thi-" I begin
"Just drop it." Ron says, scooping cornflakes into his mouth, dropping milk onto the table.
Hermione opened her mouth to argue but then shut it again, falling silent.
~
Over the next few weeks, I could tell that Harry was a lot more anxious than he usually was. When the post came every morning, his body would tense up and then relax when he didn't see a sign of Hedwig's white feathers. He'd also been a lot quieter than normal, not as full of energy.
Classes on the other hand, especially Defence Against The Dark Arts, were getting much more difficult as the days went on.
One afternoon, much to the Gryffindor's surprise, Moody announced that he would be placing the Imperius Curse on every one of them and see how they would react with its effects.
"But, Professor you said it was illegal," Hermione says, as Moody clears away the desks with his wand, leaving a large empty space in the centre of the room. "You said to use it against another human-"
"Dumbledore wants you to be taught what it feels like," Moody says, his magical eye swivelling around and fixing on Hermione. "If you'd rather learn the hard way when someone putting it on you, fine by me - you're excused. Off you go." Hermione looked down and muttered something very inaudibly, her cheeks were pink and Harry and Ron sniggered to eachother.
Moody began calling students up one by one to have the curse inflicted upon them. Each and every one of them staggered up to the front, looking very nervous and indeed petrified. I watched outstandingly as my classmates did some of the most extraordinary things under the input of the curse.
"Miss Pearson, if you would come up here please." Moody growled. My head snapped up, my cheeks reddened and my heart pace quickened. I took slow and steady steps into the space where moody had cleared the desks and stood in front of him, timidly. Moody raised his wand and I winced before he shouted "Imperio!"
The curse hit me and I was hit with a wonderful sensation. It felt like I weighed nothing and that every thought and worry had been wiped away from my head leaving a peculiar sense of happiness.
"Do a cartwheel." Moody's harsh voice interrupted my moment of peace. I was at least going to try and fight it off. "Do a cartwheel."
"No," I say in my head "Why should I?"
It felt like someone had put a stick up my nose and was twisting and fiddling with my brain, trying to make me do things I can't control. I shut my eyes tightly and fought against this powerful force.
"Do a cartwheel,"
"I don't think I will... I don't really want to,"
"Do a cartwheel NOW!" His voice was a lot more firmer this time and the next thing I knew, I uncontrollably flew my hands into the air and my legs gave way beneath me, causing me to face plant the floor. My head aches incredibly and it took me a second to re gain my vision completely.
"Now that's more like it!" Moody exclaimed, holding out an arm to help me up. "Miss Pearson here fought it! Look at that, you lot, she fought it! And she damn near beat it! Let me tell you, they'll have trouble controlling you, young lady." Moody gave me a big pat on the back and I staggered back over to my spot with Harry and Hermione. "Potter up next please."
Harry looked from Moody, to my pale face, to large empty space in the centre. He glanced back at me in denial and realising he didn't have another choice but to step into the space. He took two big strides into the middle and stared hatefully at Moody. Moody then raised his wand, just like he did with the rest of us and chanted.
"Imperio!"
The look on Harry's face suddenly changed. Like all the muscles in his body had suddenly tensed up. His eyes were squeezed together, his nose was wrinkled and his brow was furrowed. His expressions looked like he was experiencing the same thing I did. He was trying to fight it.
My head starts to feel funny and I'm getting the same sensation I was when I was under the curse. Only a lot fainter and it didn't feel quite the same as last time. It felt like I was experiencing it second-hand. Like someone else was going through it and it was being passed on to me..
Harry!
This is what Harry is feeling!
But why am I feeling it to?
My head is spinning and I grab onto Hermione's arm to gain my balance. She turns her head and looks at me.
"Are you alright, Olivia?" She says, concerned. I just nod and step back onto my own feet.
"Y- yeah yeah, I uhh just tripped," I say, out of breath. She gives me one last confused look and turns back to watching Harry.
My vision starts to blur and my ears ring. The feeling suddenly comes to a halt when a loud BANG! Echoes throughout the room. Harry had charged right into the desk, hitting both his kneecaps on the wooden frame. He fell to the floor with a loud grunt. He didn't mean to do that.
"See! Potter fought it too!" Moody exclaims, helping Harry up from the floor, "Let me tell you lot something. If anyone tried the Imperius
Curse on you two, they'd certainly have trouble. Well done! That's what I like to see! Constant vigilance!"
I jump, his eye rolls madly in its socket, before stopping and fixating on me, as if looking through into my very soul.