Daughter of Mine | Harry Potter

VIII.

Weeks passed with no word from Sirius. Lalia did receive a letter from Remus. 

Little Bean, 

I'm sorry I couldn't stop him. He was just too worried about you. Please tell me when you hear from him. 

Your dream is quite worrisome. However, it has led me down a path that I believe might be helping me understand what is happening to you. If you have natural Occulmency, it is likely we are correct that your seer abilities will remain tied to Harry only. 

Please stay safe. And make sure you are sleeping even though I know you may not want to. 

Te quiero,

Remus

Her dad knew her too well. She had been minimizing the time she spent sleeping. She began skipping meals and sleeping during breakfast and lunch instead as it appeared that the voice would not appear at times other than night. Likely due to expectations of her sleep period. 

Morag and Sue began bringing Lalia meals to their classes, which she quickly ate. However, she rarely finished causing them to be light snacks and dinner to be the only time in which she was truly eating. 

It had begun affecting her energy in class. 

In Defense Against the Dark Arts, 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 Hermione uncertainly as Moody cleared away the desks with a sweep of his wand, leaving a 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 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." 

Hermione went pink and muttered something about not meaning that she wanted to leave. 

Lalia tried to focus as her classmates all gave into the curse, but her head felt so incredibly light. She was unaware of the dark circles that were slowly appearing on her face as the days passed by. 

"Black," Moody called, "you next." 

Lalia walked forward, stumbling lightly. Moody raised his wand, pointed it at her, and said "Imperio!"

Lalia began performing a series of pirouettes. Her form was perfect in the middle of the classroom until her body collapsed against the floor.

All the students gasped as Moody moved his wand and walked to the pale faced girl. 

"Miss Black?" he asked. He had kneeled in front of the girl, who began blinking up at the man, her head settling. "Are you okay?" 

"Hmm?" Lalia asked dazed, she tried to focus on his face, but her vision was fogged. She tightly shut her eyes and opened them continuously, failing at seeing Moody's face clearly. 

Lalia saw five blurry figures behind the grizzly figure of her professor, but was unsure which of her classmates had stepped up to assist her. 

"She hasn't eaten today, Professor," Sue informed him softly. 

Moody hummed and nodded. "Will you escort Miss Black to the hospital wing Miss Li?"

Sue hurried forward and put Lalia's arm around her shoulder. Seeing her struggle to lift Lalia, Harry hurried forward and helped the two up. He held Lalia's elbow till Sue steadied and nodded at him.