Restoration

Chapter Five

***

The hallway, which had usually been quiet and peaceful, was flooded with screaming noises echoing nearby. Madam Pomfrey quickly made sure that Draco had not been hurt, upon helping him to his feet and walking right behind screaming Elara. She'd been kicking and punching at first, in hopes of escaping Dumbledore's strong grip.

"What did you do to him?!" shouted Snape as he got too close to her, receiving a punch that was directed at Dumbledore.

"It wasn't my fault!" She retaliated as she managed to free herself, lifting her wand.

"Expelliarmus," Dumbledore quickly disarmed her.

It wasn't until professor Slughorn blew a charm into her face, calming her down. Her angered, red eyes, became cloudy as she sleepily blinked before holding onto him. Because the charm had a short-term effect, they all hurried down the hallway, dragging the limping students with them. Some students peeked outside, having heard yet another quarrel that was caused by none other than the newest addition to Hogwarts. They weren't surprised to see another troublemaker, Draco, being taken aside her.

Walking through inside the Headmaster's Tower, they entered the Gargoyle Corridor. High on the calming charm, Elara rubbed her eyes as shadows began dancing in front of her, showing her things, that had no physical grounds.

Dumbledore's office was as majestic as Elara remembered it to be. It was an architectural delight, from those golden statues to portraits of previous headmasters and headmistresses. Ever so quiet, his office had a silence spell on it, preventing anyone from eavesdropping from the outside. A large and circular room, filled with thousands of little trinkets that appeared to be of sentimental value.

They sat both of the students in armchairs, across from each other. Snape stood by Draco, while Slughorn kept some distance between himself and Elara. Taking the role of a mediator, Dumbledore leaned against his claw-footed desk.

"Miss Dotson, can you explain what happened, in your opinion," he calmly started.

"He had some sort of a seizure and I caught him before he hit his head," peacefully responded Elara. Still delirious, her eyes wandered around the office, trying to figure out if it was real or not.

"I remember her from before," spat out Draco, staring at Elara. He, too, had noticed her drugged-up state.

"Hm?" mumbled Dumbledore.

"I remembered her from before she disappeared. But... it's like something was preventing me from seeing my memories. Something dark kept hiding those moments," continued Draco, shivering, "and she was controlling it."

"I warned you about her, that there was something off since the day she arrived," sneered Snape.

"What do you have to say about it?" Dumbledore turned around, facing Elara.

"I'm not controlling it...it's controlling me," she breathed out.

Slughorn and Dumbledore looked at each other, slightly taken aback by her reply. They had given her a truth-telling charm, which forced the person to tell the truth, no matter how hard they resisted it.

"What's controlling you?" they both asked in unison.

When Elara opened her mouth, she began to choke. At first, she only coughed a few times, then she stroke her throat in hopes of stopping it. Dumbledore merely lifted his brows as Slughorn shrieked in fear. Her eyes began to water as she gasped for air. The vein in her neck swelled like a cord and went blue behind the ear, her face becoming pale.