August | Hermione Granger x OFC

Chapter Sixty-Five

CW: blood torture etc

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She was wary after the vision. She walked to breakfast warily. She ate warily. She went to her Charms exam warily. She wouldn't be ambushed by Moody. He scared her.

The exam wasn't too bad. Flitwick was a good teacher and she liked the subject. It was fine.

She crossed paths with Olivia on the way out, who was not so fine.

"It was awful," she cried, tears running down her face steadily. When she wiped them away, more came.

"What, really? I mean...what happened?" Robyn asked carefully, guiding her away from the other exiting students so she wouldn't be stared at.

"I don't know anything about Portkeys, or the counter-charm for hiccups, or—"

"Whoa, it's okay. It's not the end of the world, just one exam. The rest were fine, weren't they?" Robyn tried to reassure her, to no avail.

"No, you don't understand!" exclaimed Olivia, rather dramatically, even by her standards. Then, she sped off in the other direction, away from the Charms classroom. Robyn followed her, worried about her friend and wondering what on Earth was going on with her.

"It's just one exam, Liv! Slow down!"

Olivia did not slow down.

But then she did, very abruptly. Robyn almost ran into her – in fact, she did, technically. She ran into her fist...

"What's the matter with you!" cried Robyn. She had turned her head just enough to avoid being hit in the face, but, still, Olivia got her in the temple. She clutched her head painfully, never so taken aback in her life.

"Imperio," said a gruff voice from behind her. She knew that gruff voice.

And, what do you know? She was ambushed by Moody.

There was the explanation behind Olivia's strange behaviour. Yes, punching Robyn in the face had been very out of character for her.

Well, it wasn't an explanation in whole. She still had questions, mostly: why the hell did Moody Imperio them?

That wonderfully pleasant and familiar feeling flooded her mind, and she was so utterly bamboozled, she couldn't stop it. She tried – she tried really hard, and for a second she thought she might be able to – she had done it before, after all, but Moody was not holding back like he had been that time in the classroom. No, there was an intensity to the curse that she could barely fathom, never mind fight off.

She stood frozen while Moody approached Olivia, who was crying even more at this point. She was shaking like a leaf. Robyn would've been upset at the sight but she was a little preoccupied at the moment.

"Not a great hit, but good enough," assessed Moody. Then, "You went for a walk around the corridors with Robyn after the Charms exam. Robyn wanted fresh air. You separated. You're going to the Great Hall for lunch. You are no longer upset about the exam. You are acting normal, ready for Defence. You saw nothing. You know nothing...Obliviate..."

Olivia immediately stopped her shaking and crying. She wiped her face robotically and left.

And then there were two.

Moody began walking. Instructed by the curse, Robyn followed obediently. Though the pleasantness of Imperio negated the soreness of her head, she still found herself rubbing it as if there was a phantom pain. Moody let her. He didn't care, he had his eyes on the map in his hands.