New Romantics | Hermione Granger Book IV

|41| Chapter Forty-One

F O R T Y  O N E 

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By the standards that Saffron was used to, things did move without any major event as the first weeks of the school year drifted by. With each passing the day, the anticipation and speculation about the Triwizard Tournament heightened but they were left with the ever-present reminder that things weren't really going to get exciting until October. So Saffron wasn't holding her breath for it and focus on enjoying things at school while they were calm.

The Mitchell siblings kept up their weekly meeting with Amanda, going for a Saturday morning and Saffron got Harry to come with them. It was always a good time for the siblings as Amanda was always able to offer them advice, guidance or stories about their parents should they need it. She also always brought a pie with her, which only excited Rowan more.

It was also a good opportunity for them to be together to talk about the Grey. As Amanda had lived through their mothers struggle with it. The only difference was that being an only child, Prina got the traditional thing out of the Grey which was clairvoyance beyond the realm of the direct descendants from Dilip, the person who was cursed causing the Grey to be formed. Therefore, her experience was very different from that of the Mitchells currently. 

Only Rachel and Rowan were going through what was inside of them, as neither Saffron nor Maya had gone to the Grey in a long time. According to the twins, it was becoming easier to speak to one another and they found it much easier to do when their mind wasn't occupied on anything else. For instance, when they were sleeping.

 Saffron wondered what it felt like to have someone else be able to access her through her mind and imagined it was both a blessing and a curse for the twins. Though, for now, they viewed it as a blessing as it gave them and their friends Emilia and Elena a lot to do to try and see if they could make the connection stronger. Amanda advised them to be careful and not to force anything which the twins agreed to. Saffron just knew they had a very different idea of what forcing it meant. In private conversations, the twins promised to be safe to Saffron and she just held onto that, as she couldn't hunt them down all day to make sure they weren't doing anything. That would be extremely hypocritical considering what she had gotten into during her time at Hogwarts.

The only thing that came with having nothing major to worry about in Hogwarts was the pressure she put on herself to do well in her lessons. As the pressure put on Saffron and her classmates, most notably in Professor Moody's class, was nothing like she was used to. As he informed the class that he was going to place them under the Imperius Curse, much to the worry of the entire class. 

Hermione tried to reason with him once the announcement was made.

"But - but you said it's illegal, Professor," Hermione said, watching as Moody swept the desks away with his wand, leaving a clear space in the centre of the room for him to use the curse on them in."You said - to use it against another human was -"

"Dumbledore wants you taught what it feels like," Moody cut her off, his magical eye fixing itself on Hermione making her shuffle backwards uncomfortably. "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."

Saffron was tempted. When was someone realistically going to put the Imperius Curse on her? Maybe she was naive seeing as the Death Eaters and Dark Mark had both been spotted for the first time in years, but did she really need this practice at fourteen? Upon further consideration, she figured that Moody was probably right as much as she didn't want them to be. It would be better for them to know what it felt like in a controlled environment rather than not being prepared for it should it end up happening to them.

One by one, a student was put under the Imperius Curse and one by one, none of them were able to fight it off. Dean hopped around like a bunny singing the national anthem very badly. Lavender acted like a squirrel. Neville performed the most incredible gymnastics Saffron had ever seen. Hermione tapdanced across the room. Seamus followed her by continuing to dance, but as a ballerina and then it was Saffron's turn.

"You're next, Mitchell," Moody growled at her, as he usually did when speaking. Saffron exhaled loudly before shuffling her feet into the allocated space. She struggled to keep her eyes open and closed them the second that Moody said, "Imperio!"

The second the spell hit her, Saffron felt free of every single worry and stress she had ever felt in her life. She felt giddy and like she could do anything. She had no sense of where she was or who was with her until she heard Professor Moody's voice creep into the very corner of her ear. It felt distant but she heard it clearer than she had ever heard anything.

"I know your secret,"

Saffron felt too giddy to even register that the voice was talking about her. Who's secret? What secret? These were questions that she didn't have the answer to... yet. But as she thought about it, something began to come to mind.

"Walk over to me, and whisper your secret into my ear,"

That sounded like a good idea to Saffron. She thought that if she tried to say it then she would remember what it was. Suddenly, she was able to see clearly. She was able to see Professor Moody standing in front of her. All she had to do was walk over to him and tell him and then she would feel light again. Then she wouldn't have any more worries or fears, just a gleeful giddiness.

She stood in front of the man and began to lean in. She stood on her tippy-toes and moved her hand in front of their mouths. She couldn't let anyone else know the secret. If she did that, she felt she wouldn't be happy anymore.

As the secret began to slip out of her lips, another voice, a female one this time that Saffron knew she had heard many times before but in her current state couldn't remember where it came from. It told her:

"NO!"

Saffron listened. Not to Moody anymore, but to the new voice. To the voice that she knew belonged to her mother in the Grey. 

She felt it. Saffron felt the Grey take over every inch of her body and felt her lungs burn, a rasping scream escaping out of them. Professor Moody's hold over her was released and with it was what was inside the Grey. She felt her body slam to the floor and felt a physical wave of the Greys protection escape her. Once there, she felt the Grey let go of her too and she was back to her reality.

Saffron opened her eyes and realised that she wasn't the only person on the floor. Every other person, barring Professor Moody, had collapsed and were only now getting back to her feet. The wave of power being unleashed from the Grey had escaped her body causing their falls. Saffron sniffled feeling overcome with fear and emotion at what she had just heard inside her head and how close she had come to letting herself reveal the secret that her family had spent generations trying to protect to someone she barely knew, let alone trust. 

Looking up from the floor, Saffron saw Professor Moody only having eyes for her. He was staring right at her. Both real and fake eyes locking onto hers. Maya's words from a few weeks back rung through her head:

"He might have read your mind... Don't worry, he couldn't have. You would have had to have made eye contact with him for a long time,"

Letting out a fearful gasp, Saffron got to her feet and ran out of the classroom as fast as she could. She couldn't hear anybody trying to catch up with her but the Grey did, as Saffron had barely made it down the corridor before collapsing and watching everything go Grey around her.