𝘒𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘈𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 •°𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘛𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘴

[7]

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

A few weeks passed and their lessons were becoming more difficult and demanding than ever before, particularly Moody's Defense Against the Dark Arts.

To their 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,' Hermione said 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,' Moody said, 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. Sara saw Harry and Ron grinning at each other. They all knew Hermione 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. Sara watched as, one by one, her classmates did the most extraordinary things under its influence. Dean Thomas hopped three times around the room, singing the national anthem. Lavender Brown imitated a squirrel. Neville performed a series of quite astonishing gymnastics he would certainly not have been capable of in his 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.

'Potter,' Moody growled, 'you next.'

As the curse had been already casted upon her brother, Sara stepped in front of the classroom, waiting for Moody to perform the curse. He raised his wand, pointed it at her, and said, "Imperio!"

It was the most wonderful feeling. Sara felt a floating sensation as every thought and worry in her head was wiped gently away, leaving nothing but a vague, untraceable happiness. She stood there feeling immensely relaxed, only dimly aware of everyone watching her.

And then she heard Mad-Eye Moody's voice, echoing in some distant chamber of her empty brain: Run around the classroom. . .run around the classroom.

'But why tho?' a voice echoed trough her head and Sara blinked repeatedly until the floating sensation left her head completely.

She crossed her arms as everyone, including Moody, was staring wide-eyed at her.

'What?' Sara asked with a tone of amusement in her voice.

'Now, that's more like it!' growled Moody's voice and Sara chuckled when Parvati and Lavender both jumped from surprise.

'Look at that, you lot. . . Potter fought! She fought it, and she damn beat it! We'll try that again, Potter, and the rest of you, pay attention - watch her eyes, that's where you see it - very good, Potter, very good indeed! They'll have trouble controlling you!'

'The way he talks,' Sara muttered as she hobbled out of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class an hour later, 'you'd think we were all going to be attacked any second.'

'Yeah I know,' Nico said and Sara could swear she saw a little smile on the corner of his mouth.

When they arrived in the entrance hall, they found themselves unable to proceed owing to the large crowd of students congregated there, all milling around a large sign that had been erected at the foot of the marble staircase. They both stood on tiptoe to see over the heads in front of them.

TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT
THE DELEGATIONS FROM BEAUXBATONS AND DURMSTRANG WILL BE ARRIVING AT 6 O'CLOCK ON FRIDAY THE 30TH OF OCTOBER. LESSONS WILL END HALF AN HOUR EARLY-

'Brilliant!' they heard Harry say. "It's Potions last thing on Friday! Snape won't have time to poison us all!"

STUDENTS WILL RETURN THEIR BAGS AND BOOKS TO THEIR DORMITORIES AND ASSEMBLE IN FRONT OF THE CASTLE TO GREET OUR GUESTS BEFORETHE WELCOMING FEAST.

'Only one week away,' Nico muttered as they sat at the Gryffindor table.

'Yeah I honestly want all of this to end before it even starts,' Sara mumbled as she put generous amounts of potatoes on her plate.

'Quidditch?' he asked while serving himself with soup.

Sara nodded, her mouth too full of food to say another word.

#

When they went down to breakfast on the morning of the thirtieth of October, they found that the Great Hall had been decorated overnight.

'Dumbledore is really trying to impress our foreign guests,' Sara concluded.

'No other school can beat the beauty of Hogwarts anyway,' Nico said happily, taking a slice of toast and shoving it into his mouth.

'You don't look alike but sure do have your twin brother's appetite,' Sara laughed.

There was a pleasant feeling of anticipation in the air that day. Nobody was very attentive in lessons, being much more interested in the arrival that evening of the people from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang; even Potions was more bearable than usual, as it was half an hour shorter. When the bell rang early, Sara and Nico hurried up to Gryffindor Tower, deposited their bags and books as they had been instructed, pulled on their cloaks, and rushed back downstairs into the entrance hall.

The Heads of Houses were ordering their students into lines.

The students of Beauxbatons arrived into a horse-drawn carriage, the size of a large house. The size of the carriage and of the horses was immediately explained by their Headmistress, Madam Maxime who was the largest woman Sara has ever seen.

The delegation from Durmstrang arrived with a ship that was slowly, magnificently rosing out of the water, gleaming in the moonlight. It had a strangely skeletal look about it, as though it were a resurrected wreck, and the dim, misty lights shimmering at its portholes looked like ghostly eyes.

Among the students from Durmstrang, Sara was surprised to see Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian seeker whom she seen at the Quidditch World Cup.

They rushed inside because the welcoming feast was moments from starting.

Once the golden plates had been wiped clean, Dumbledore stood up. A pleasant sort of tension seemed to fill the Hall now. Harry felt a slight thrill of excitement, wondering what was coming. Several seats down from them, Fred and George were leaning forward, staring at Dumbledore with great concentration.

As the headmaster showed the students the Globet of Fire which would chose the participants of the Tournament, Sara scanned every foreign student with her hazel eyes.

'Pss, Earth to Sara,' Nico whispered into her ear and Sara turned to look at him.

'Yes I'm alive,' she answered.

'Good because people are starting to leave, you see,' he chuckled and both went on their way to the Gryffindor common room.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───