6TH SEPTEMBER 1994 - 05:30 PM

The following days had crawled on quite slowly as homework piled up for the fifth years. It is Friday and its the last period: DADA. Thankfully it isn't a double lesson today and so they don't have to endure him for along as they did on Monday. Evie was grateful for the notes Meera had duplicated for her and both girls had quickly chosen the seats at the back. The Hufflepuff girl detested this class more than Potions...and nothing has ever been worse than Potions, so that was saying something. When Moody told them he'll be putting the Imperius Curse on them to see if they can resist it, Meera had become very unsettled.

"But - but you said it's illegal, Professor," Cho said uncertainly. "You said to use it against another human was...illegal."

Moody turned to her fixing her with a steely glare. "Dumbledore wants you taught what it feels like," Moody said, his magical eye swiveling onto Cho 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."

Cho flushed profusely and hid behind Marietta.

Most people had little success, doing astonishing things in front of Evie. Marietta had bunny hopped around the room  and Cho herself had performed several sopranos.

"Brooke! You're up!" Moody called.

Evie went forward reluctantly dragging her feet. A few of the boys regarded her with sympathy and amusement she to her small size as if to question her strength. She glared at them defiantly as if to say well if you're so strong why didn't you?

Moody raised his wand, pointed it at her, and said, "Imperio!"

Meera watched as Evie's eyes became blank, each muscle in her body relaxed. It looked as though she was a puppet held up by invisible threads which came from Moody's wand. A few moments later Moody started to say. "Jump up...jump up on the desk."

Evie had started to follow through, but stopped suddenly, a puzzled expression crossed her face and she halted her actions. Suddenly she half hurtled into the table, causing Meera to cry out. "Evie!"

"Now, that's more like it!" Moody's voice growled, and Evie returned to herself again. "Atta girl! Look at that, you lot ... Brooke fought! She fought it, and she damn near beat it! You boys think that she's weak and small? Well look at her she nearly beat the Imperius Curse."

Meera saw that there was a small cut on her forehead and pointed it out to her. The Hufflepuff  winced as she placed her hand to it.

"We'll try that again, Brooke, and the rest of you, pay attention - watch her eyes, that's where you see it - very good, Brooke, very good indeed! They'll have trouble controlling you!" Moody exclaimed enthusiastically.

After Moody used Evie as a puppet to demonstrate again, it had been Meera's turn. The Ravenclaw stepped forward apprehensively her palms beginning to sweat as she exhaled and looked down at the floor.

"Oh, come on Ranga! Have a little spine and at least look at me. You'll never beat it if you can't bring yourself to look at your enemy." Moody said. She looked up at him her jaw clenching on its own accord as she tried to ignore her ears burning from embarassment. "Imperio."

A strangely calm sensation passed through her and slowly she felt the tension leaving from her body. Her thoughts became muffled and fuzzy, the surroundings of the classroom around her seemed vague and distant. Then a voice cut through the fog in her head...a comforting voice, a voice that seemed trustworthy. Her body moved on its own accord following its commands.

However, this wasn't like her at all. Meera wouldn't have dreamed of performing any of the acrobatics that she was attempting now in normal circumstances...so why now? She didn't have to do this. 

As she began to question her actions it became more difficult for her to move her limbs in anyway, the free comforting sensation leaving. Another voice, more distant one gave her the strength to try and ignore the first voice. It was a foreign voice, one that she did not recognise, but it seemed to fill her with a strange sense of rebellion and give her the strength to enact on it. An image of a dark cave emerged in front of her eyes, taking her away from her surroundings. In the darkness there was a small orangish glow which reflected of some walls?...no scales...

Before she could try and see what this creature was however, light flooded into the cave. She was on the floor and the sound of Moody's voice shouting became louder as she registered her surroundings. Her vision was blurry and all she could see were shapeless faces hovering above her. As she tried to raise her arm to push her glasses up her face, she winced as a sharp pain shooted up. 

Moments later she noticed more pain creeping in from her leg and tried to adjust it to make it go away, but was held down by someone. As she looked up she saw the blurry features of a familiar face. "Don't move, Meera...you had a pretty bad fall." Evie said. "Madam Pomfrey's on her way."

"Where's my glasses?" Meera asked. Evie placed something on Meera's face and immediately her surroundings became sharper and in focus. She was near Moody's desk and was in a very unnatural position. Her leg appeared to have been twisted in a strange fashion and she could not raise her arm at all.

"I've got to admit Ranga, I did not think you had it in you to break the curse." Moody said. "Sure you took your time, but eventually you fought back, quite strongly, as the longer someone has the curse over you the more control they have over you. Yet you managed to break through that...some of your friend's spirit must haved rubbed of on you." 

"Meera's always been strong minded." Evie said quickly. "A strong rational mind is her greatest strength."

"Rationality is useless when you're under the Imperius Curse Ms Brooke. A rational mind is a balanced mind and a balanced mind is one willing to accomadate change. That's the problem with rationality, if all seems well, its easy to lull it into safety with a few reasonable words. You need something greater to drive you to fight back...a fiery passion. You for example were practically clawing you're way out of it, as if even the idea of relenquishing control disgusted you. Meera on the other hand didn't mind, she seemed comforted by it. Almost as though she enjoyed the lack of control." Moody said. He had a rather indecipherable expression on his face. "I was expecting a weak but consistent resistance from her as she does seem to enjoy being on top of things, shown through her meticulous work. I did not expect this strange response, it was quite...odd for a lack of a better word. Passion to fight is usually consistent within someone, I'm not sure why it would be there for a moment, but not at other times."

"Maybe she's just tired of fighting." Evie said defiantly. "Anyone would want a break after the fight Meera puts up at..."

"Evie." Meera interjected. If she could move her arm she would have slapped the girl's arm. Her friend meant well, but their professor did not need to know about Meera's personal problems. It's not like he could do anything about it anyway. 

Madam Pomfrey was muttering furiously under her breath as she arrived. Meera could have sworn she'd heard some lurid curses being uttered by the woman clearly intended for the DADA teacher. 

The matron had been quick to get her to the hospital wing. Although she had managed to sort out her ankle and broken arm, she insisted Meera stay in the hospital wing for at least a night as she wanted to ensure she didn't have side effects from the Imperius Curse. The verdict made Meera quite sullen. As lovely as Madam Pomfrey is she can be a little strict. She shooed Evie away claiming that she was making Meera tired and this left the Ravenclaw bored for the rest of the night.

Harris had been extremely anxious about Meera and Evie's absence and once Evie had alone, his worry increased. He hastily got up from his table and hurried over to the Hufflepuff.

"Evie! Are you okay? Oh, my God! What happened to you?" Harris asked frantically. His hand had moved a little bit of curly blonde hair behind her ear to examine her forehead and he frowned at it clinically. "Does it hurt? If it does, I could talk to Madam Pomfrey...are you sure your okay?"

His hand had now dropped to the smaller girl's shoulder. Evie was smiling up at him, and he felt his cheeks reddening. "I'm fine, Harris. Thank you for asking. Warning for your next DADA lesson, Moody's putting the Imperius Curse on you and it could lead to broken bones. Meera is currently in the nursing an injured arm and a very bruised ego. Madam Pomfrey gave her painkillers and shooed me away...probably because we were being far too loud."

"Why's Moody doing that? Putting an Unforgivable Curse on you I mean." He asked. "And are you okay?"

"To teach us to resist. I'm fine...I managed to resist it with most success. Meera didn't but then something funny happened." Evie said

"Define funny." Harris said.

"She initially couldn't resist and then all of a sudden she just kinda stopped doing his bidding. Kinda like a clockwork model would stop after the winding returned to original position. And then she resisted violently which led Moody to push her further and she crashed and broke her arm and glasses...thankfully it only cracked. Her arm was only fractured minorly...when I pointed that out though she sulked and muttered it was more than a scratch to the head." Evie replied.

Harris rose his eyebrows at the Hufflepuff girl. "You resisted?" He asked a hint of admiration showing in his voice.

"Of course I did...we both know that no one can ever truly contain my spirit." Evie laughed. "Can you let go now? I'm starving." 

Harris moved away from her hastily. "Yeah...I should go to. McGonnegal wanted some prefects to volunteer for something." 

She smiled as he left. Evie isn't an envious person , but she was a little bummed that all three of her friends were Prefects andor Quidditch Captain. She'd hoped for the Captaincy, but then Cedric swiped it from her. Just like, he'd swiped the position of Seeker so many years ago, but Evie forgave him for that because she loves being Keeper.

Most teachers believed she wasn't Prefect material she guessed as she wasn't outstanding in all subjects. Harris was extremely smart and charismatic even if he lacked in a few...so was Cedric...they are popular. She is not however.

Meera assured her that she could always make Head Girl in the future as not all Head Girls were former prefect, but Evie does not think she will. Her only hope is the Captaincy once Cedric leaves...and she will be the best damn captain they've had.

Although, she'd never admit it, she wished that she could have been captain with him around. As irritating as he could be he was a good friend to her and the team wouldn't be the same without him. His growth spurt didn't hinder him from being an excellent seeker.

She wants him to be around so she can brag, so she's hoping she'll get the captaincy next year, just so she could do that. The chances are slim according to Meera and her logic, but Dumbledore is anything but logical sometimes.

A few examples: he's hosting a tournament with a death toll; he let a crazy paranoid bastard teach kids DADA; he keeps Snape a twat who emotionally abuses his students; he has an obvious favouritism of Harry and Gryffindor. She felt that the other houses always overshadowed Hufflepuff as it was seen the place for whoever was left after people had been sorted into Gryffindor, Slytherin and Ravenclaw.

Hence, Evie joined the group of Hufflepuffs who were encouraging Cedric to join the Triwizard Championship...sure she didn't want him to die, but it would be nice if Hufflepuff finally got their own win.

"Where's Meera?" The sixth year asked her quietly.

"Hospital wing." She replied. Her voice muffled by the food she was shovelling down. "Moody broke arm. Meera forced to eat Hospital food."

"I bet she's grumpy." He chuckled setting down a jug of pumpkin juice.

"Yep. Hospital beds are never as comfortable as common rooms and dorms. She's annoyed that she can't have her 'personal space' aka she can't talk to herself while writing or sing under her breath because Pomfrey will tell her to shut up." Evie said matter of factly. She shoved away the carrots distastefully as she got some roast potatoes.

Cedric regarded her plate disapprovingly. "You can't have a purely carbohydrate based diet. Eat some vegetables...they supply you with the proteins and minerals you need."

Evie looked at the boy with a baffled expression. "I'm not wrong." He shrugged.

Evie shook her head. "I think Meera's possessed you...or you're under the Imperius Curse...where did you learn all those big words Diggory. You're not supposed to know that!"

Cedric rolled his eyes. "I'm smart enough to know what carbohydrates and proteins are. I am the captain of the Quidditch team after all, I need to be able to take care of my teammates. It's important to have a balanced diet; if Meera also spends her time telling you this, then I'm glad."

"This is not good, Diggory. If she manages to possess you completely you'll be a completely different person. Next thing you know you'll be hating Quidditch and sitting in a corner away hidden from people in the library all by yourself.." Evie exclaimed dramatically.

"I already sit alone at the library. Roman distracts me." Cedric said nonchalantly.

"Oh, no! We need to get her out of you! Please stop! I'll like you even less now!" Evie said and shook her head at him, sympathetically. "You've fallen under her spell, Diggory. You need to resist it."

"Stop being so dramatic Evie." Cedric scoffed. "Meera and I are just friends...well frenemies according to her."

Evie paused her melodramatic rant at this comment. "And when did I ever hint at anything other than that, Cedric?" 

Cedric opened his mouth but closed it, looking away a little abashedly. "Well it sounded like you were. 'Falling under one's spell' can be taken in multiple ways." He muttered, his eyes averted from the narrowed ones of the Hufflepuff girl.

"I just said that she's put you under a spell...like the Imperius Curse. We are in a school of magic after all. Is there something you'd like to share, Cedric ?" Evie asked jabbing her knife at the sixth year rather violently. Cedric shook his head, but his cheeks only became redder and this only made Evie poke more. "Oh this is fun, come on Cedric what are you hiding?"

"Nothing." Cedric repeated adamantly. 

"Yes you are!" Evie exclaimed grinning. Their back and forth banter continued until dinner was over and they had to seperate as he had Prefect duties. 

Evie wasted little time to reach her dorm as she entered the Hufflpuff basement. She was exhausted by the week they'd had. At this point in time she couldn't care less about her homework; the only thing that was on her mind was sleep and Cedric's accidental slip up in the great hall. Why did he say that? However, the question evaporated from her mind as soon as she hit the mattress as the weight of her fatigue came crashing down on her like a two tonne truck in the face.

Meera on the other hand wasn't having as much luck. She was having trouble finding a comfortable position to sleep and whenever she got into a little doze something seemed to keep waking her up. She then remembered she had some Charms homework to do and so quietly moved the Charms textbook onto herself before putting her glasses on and muttering lumos to light her wand. 

She eventually got tired of holding the wand and angled it carefully, before continuing to read her page. She did not know for how long she was reading but her leg became numb as she had been sitting in the same position for quite a while. She jumped however when she heard a whisper, shaking her toes to try and stop the pins and needles in her legs spreading.

"Meera? That you?"

"Who is it?" she whispered back

"Cedric." The Hufflepuff boy parted the curtain to poke his head in but Meera ushered him to come in to avoid any light from her wand leaving. He regarded the way she was sitting up and how her wand had been angled so she explained. "I got tired of holding it." She had pulled the sheets over her legs and placed the wand in such a way so that the glow was barely visible.

"I brought you some cake...its chocolate too." Cedric told her.

Meera's eyebrows shot up at him. "You snuck over here to give me some cake?"

Cedric nodded with a lopsided grin. With some difficulty she moved the book of her lap and tried to shut it. Cedric went over to help her.

As he moved it of her lap, he passed the plate to her and she took it from him with her left hand. She got some icing on her nose when she tried to eat it without a spoon. She could use her other hand, but her muscles still ached from the complex gymnastics she'd performed earlier. Cedric chuckled quietly and Meera glared at him. "I hope you become severely injured because of him." she grumbled.

There was no space on the desk next to her as it was filled with treats and some books that Meera refused to put it on the floor (she couldn't reach the floor from her bed). Cedric saw her struggle and grabbed a tissue to dab the icing of her nose. The sudden movement had caught her of guard and she blinked and scrunched up her nose up momentarily. Her hair which had been loosely tied by a scrunchie loosened and fell over her face.

Meera pouted as her hair was now in the way. She couldn't eat the cake without moving it and both her hand were occupied. She looked up at the Hufflepuff boy who stood there looking at the curtain behind him a little apprehensively. He frowned when he saw her staring at him. "Move my hair out of the way, Diggory." she said bluntly.

"Not even a please?" he teased.

"If you don't I'll shout for Madam Pomfrey." she threatened. "She'll take points from Hufflepuff."

Cedric's grin fell. "Evie loses enough points with her encounters with McGonnegal." he muttered. He took the short strands of hair and tucked it behind her ears, ensuring that her glasses didn't fall off.

"There? You good?" he asked. Meera tried to nod, but she couldn't and only then did the Hufflepuff realise he was cupping her face. "Sorry."

He retracted his hands quickly and averted his gaze. Meera thought she saw the boy's cheeks redden slightly, but chose to focus on the rather haphazardly placed cake in front of her. She carefully placed it on top of a book and used a small fork that she had gotten from her bedside to prod at it as she regarded it with some suspicion, she narrowed her eyes at him.

"It's not poisoned or drugged." Cedric assured her. She ate small piece of it a touch uncertainly, but quickly proceeded to eat the rest quite quickly. Cedric refrained from laughing as she licked the icing of the plate.

"You're gross." he said trying to keep a straight face as he fixed her with a disapproving look.

"I know I'm being a pig. I embrace it." Meera declared. Cedric chuckled and shook his head at her. 

"Who's there?" a voice asked. Meera muttered Nox and quickly closed her eyes and shrunk under the covers.

Madam Pomfrey looked around suspiciously, trying to find the source of the noises. She noticed a plate that hadn't been there before and frowned. After a meticulous search however she couldn't find any evidence of another person and left.

Once Meera was sure her footsteps were gone she whispered into the dark. "Diggory?" 

She heard no response and frowned. Had he left? But how? How did he leave without either she or Madam Pomfrey noticing. She didn't really think about it too long though, as she was just glad that he had managed to get out. She'd hate to see him get in trouble just because he was trying to be nice to her. Her eyes felt heavy as she yawned once more and comforting dozy feeling settled over her.

Instead of the undisturbed peaceful rest she had hoped for she saw images of the murder of the mystery woman playing on loop inside her head once more and several more flashes of death, destruction and havoc. People being burnt, decapitated, tortured, poisoned, disected, strangled, manipulated...

But it always returned to the image of the woman being stabbed though. It changed ever so slightly though, as the words they said began to become clearer.

"I won't let the world suffer for what you've become." she heard someone say and that was when Harris stabbed her.

Then she was watching it again. However, now she saw it through the point of view of the woman. She tried to recoil from the blade...she did everything she could, with all the power she had (which was none in this nightmare). She saw the blade pass through her, the silver metal becoming coated in dark red, she felt the pain spreading over her body as the life began to drawin out of her...

However, she could now see that the woman had lost all good in her as she could feel what she felt...hear what she thought...something about her brother dying...something about a battle.

Then she was stabbed again, Meera felt sick, but could do nothing about it as she had no choice to witness it and feel the pain and the dreadful coldness that spread through her.

Then she found herself alone to her momentary relief. It was somewhere dark. Meera shrunk towards the only light source available and felt someone or something grab her, she was in a cave? Yes a cave... a familiar one at that. It looked similar to the one she thought she'd hallucinated whilst under the Imperius curse. The thing continued to pull her back,  it appeared luminescent...almost like a patronus. As the figure became more pronounced and real she tripped and fell into a seemingly endless chasm.

That was when she awoke and seeing darkness surround her again only set of further terror in her...she didn't realise that she wasn't asleep anymore and fearing more of those horrifying images she screamed, as if hoping someone might hear her and help her leave the torturous loop in her head.