The Forgotten Twin

Chapter 13

Classes were getting more and more demanding, so Delilah didn't have as much time as she would have liked to experiment. Moody's class in particular had become very difficult.

To everyone's surprise, Professor Moody had announced that he would be putting the Imperius Curse on each of them in turn, to demonstrate its power and to see whether they could resist its effects.

"But — but you said it's illegal, Professor," said Daphne 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 Daphne 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. Daphne went very pink and muttered something about not meaning that she wanted to leave. She wouldn't miss such an important class for anything.

Moody began to beckon students forward in turn and put the Imperius Curse upon them. Delilah watched as, one by one, her classmates did the most extraordinary things under its influence. Crabbe hopped three times around the room, singing the national anthem. Goyle imitated a squirrel. Pansy performed a series of quite astonishing gymnastics she would certainly not have been capable of in her normal state. Not one of them seemed to be able to fight off the curse, and each of them recovered only when Moody had removed it.

When Draco went up for his turn, Moody made him pick Delilah up and swing her around. When Moody lifted the curse, Draco went pink and refused to speak to her.

She was perfectly fine with this, as she was such a deep shade of red it looked like she was on fire.

"Potter, you next."

Delilah walked up to the middle of the classroom, into the space that Moody had cleared of desks. Moody raised his wand, pointed it at Delilah, and said, "Imperio!"

It was the best feeling, as if she was flying away without a care in the world. She stood there feeling immensely relaxed, only vaguely aware of everyone watching her.

And then she heard Mad-Eye Moody's voice, echoing in some distant chamber of her brain: Jump onto the desk... jump onto the desk....

Delilah almost bent her knees, but why would she?

Jump onto the desk... the voice repeated.

No, Delilah thought, I don't think I will.

A blast of pain came, but Delilah pushed it away.

And then the strange feeling was gone, along with the pain. Delilah stared at Moody, who didn't say anything, and a plan formed.

She walked over to Draco, and kissed his cheek. Then she pulled away and walked back to the middle of the room, stood for a moment like everyone else had, and then sat down, letting her face blush. Draco's face was the exact same color.

Moody's face was impassive, but Delilah thought she saw a glimpse of amusement in his eye. He continued the lesson as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. As the class was packing up, he told them that for homework they would read up on resisting the Imperius Curse.

"Honestly, the way he talks," Delilah told Daphne, "you'd think we were going to get attacked any second."

"Agreed, but he has a point. We do need to learn how to defend ourselves," Daphne declared.