Hogwarts Royalty

Oh my god, is that?

*Charlie Pov*

Over the next couple of weeks our lessons were becoming more difficult and demanding than ever before, particularly Moody's Defense Against the Dark Arts. To no surprise, Professor Moody had announced that he would be putting the Imperius Curse on each of us in turn, to demonstrate its power and to see whether we 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 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," 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."

He pointed one gnarled finger toward the door. Hermione went very pink and muttered something about not meaning that she wanted to leave. Moody began to beckon students forward in turn and put the Imperius Curse upon them. I watched as, one by one, my 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.

"Charlie," Moody growled, "you next."

I moved forward into the middle of the classroom, into the space that Moody had cleared of desks. Moody raised his wand, pointed it at me, and said, "Imperio!"

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

And then I heard Mad-Eye Moody's voice, echoing in some distant chamber of my empty brain: Do a back flip….do the back flip

I bent my knees obediently, preparing to spring and get the height.

Do a back flip….

Why, though? Another voice had awoken in the back of my brain. Stupid thing to do, really, said the voice.

Do a back flip….

No, I don't think I will, thanks, said the other voice, a little more firmly...no, I don't really want to....

Flip NOW!

The next thing I felt was considerable pain. I had both jumped and tried to prevent myself from jumping - the result was that I'd smashed against the ground flat on back, as I felt a sharp pain go through my body. I groaned painfully, as I weakly rose to my feet.

"Now, that's more like it!" growled Moody's voice, and suddenly, I felt the empty, echoing feeling in my head disappear. I remembered exactly what was happening, and the pain in my back seemed to double.

"Look at that, you lot...Charlie fought! She fought it, and she damn near beat it! They'll have trouble controlling you!"

"The way he talks," I muttered as I 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," said Ron, who was skipping on every alternate step.

"Talk about paranoid..." Ron glanced nervously over his shoulder to check that Moody was definitely out of earshot and went on.