Chapter Four
Eileen was finding classes to be far more interesting and challenging for her Sixth year level of learning, especially in Potions class and DADA. Despite being her godfather, Severus was still a strict teacher and retained his neutral hatred of all students, albeit a much milder distaste than given to other students in class since she was fairly adept at following directions. She did not escape his strict ridicule, however, when any of her off-the-books experimentation went awry and caused any combination of awful stench, dreadful explosion, or discovery of a new man-made life form that attempted to flee the classroom. She made swift note of where she went wrong on those for later tinkering.
DADA classes got particularly difficult when Professor Moody decided to begin subjecting his students to dark curses in the name of education, something Eileen was pretty sure was against the rules. Moody's excuse for the acceptable torture was "you need to know what's coming at you", some things his students argued they would have rather not known but experienced either way. That day's lesson, in particular, had students experiencing the Imperius curse first-hand.
A small, very wary group of Sixth year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs found themselves huddled against the walls watching their classmates thoroughly embarrass themselves as they were subjected to the curse, doing jigs and cartwheels around the room, some behaving as animals or reciting the Hogwarts anthem out loud.
Cheryl found herself tap dancing in front of her peers before being released. She played it up to ensure she wasn't completely humiliated, laughing as she returned to the group, "I didn't know I was such a good dancer!"
Eileen attempted to console her friend before being called forward to endure her turn of humiliation, tentatively stepping into the center of the room to face Professor Moody.
"Are you ready, Miss Pierce?" Moody watched her closely, looking a little too amused with the situation.
She nodded, bracing herself for the coming attack on her willpower. It hit her like a ton of bricks, bricks that felt like a warm wave consuming her into the depths of contentment. She suddenly found herself not caring nearly as much about what was going on in the class or having her defenses up. Some part of her wanted to just let go and enjoy it, but a far more stubborn and anxious side of her found the relief unnerving.
Bark like a dog, a sure voice cooed to her. Bark like a dog.
No, I don't think I will, that's a rather foolish thing to do, her logic argued, slowly pulling up her walls to push the feeling back.
Bark like a dog, she felt the words pressing down on her, as if trying to force her to give in to their will.
Absolutely not! "Get out of my head!" She thought out loud before realizing she was speaking. She blinked, hearing laughter coming from a distant source, focusing in on it to find Moody barking out a laugh at her rejection of his magic.
"You're an obstinate one! You'd make a good Auror someday, I think! Let's see how well you can hold up to it!" Moody gleefully growled as he hit her a few more times with the curse.
Each time she built her wall up more and more, feeling her determination rising and her desire to return the attacks building as well. It kept hitting her, feeling warm at first but slowly becoming fiercer, more like slaps to the face. They got harder and harder until finally they stopped. She realized only then that she had her wand drawn and pointed directly at him, a voice rolling from her body in a dark tone, "Say those words one more time and I'll make you regret it for a thousand years."
The room fell silent, save for a few gasps from the girls who had huddled back further in the classroom. Eileen couldn't break her gaze with the professor, finding her body had stopped reacting to her commands. Frightened, she tried to scream, but nothing came out of her mouth.
What's happening to me?
"Eileen?" A gentle hand rested on her shoulder and she felt the tension relax in her body, as if a door on a cage had opened and given her freedom back. She gasped, almost collapsing as the hand moved to support her.
She blinked away tears in her eyes and looked up to see Cheryl looking down at her, surprise and alarm on her face. "Cheryl..."
"Well then," Moody huffed, "Perhaps you can escort Miss Pierce to the hospital wing, she looks as though she's in need of some medical attention."
"Your nose..." Cheryl frowned with concern.
Eileen touched her face with a shaky hand, pulling back to see blood on her fingers. "Oh..."
"Let's get that looked at," Cheryl muttered. "Can you walk?"
Nodding but accepting assistance, Eileen left class with Cheryl to head to the hospital wing to ensure she wasn't having a brain aneurism or anything so severe.
"Honestly!" Pomfrey fretted after tending to Eileen's injuries, "You're not the first student to come here after Professor Moody's classes! He'll end the lot of you, he will!" She shuffled off after stopping the bleeding and ensuring she was of sound mind, leaving her with a glass of juice and a cookie for her troubles.
Eileen closed her eyes and laid still on the hospital bed, trying to sort out her thoughts but finding them oddly quiet.
Cheryl sat by the bed, watching her friend intently a few moments before speaking in a hushed tone, "What happened? Why did you try to attack Professor Moody?"
"I don't know...I wasn't...there," She replied distantly.
"What do you mean?" Cheryl frowned, reaching out to touch her hand. "Did you black out?"
"No, I remember...I mean...I saw it happen and heard it, it just wasn't...me," Eileen frowned a little too. "Does that make sense?"
Cheryl was quiet for a moment, thinking, "...I think so, yes. Like witnessing something happening and...not being able to do anything about it."
"Yeah..." Eileen let out a little moan. "My head hurts."
"Do you want me to let you sleep?" Cheryl started to stand and move away.
Quickly, Eileen took her hand and held on tightly, "No, I...please stay. I'm sorry, it feels better when you're here."
Hesitating, Cheryl sat back down, "Okay."
They sat in silence until they heard the ring of the school bell, signaling the end of class. It wasn't until Snape entered the room a while later that there was any movement in the room aside from Poppy's idle bustling about.
"Ei - Miss Pierce, what happened?" Snape corrected upon seeing Cheryl sitting on the other side of the bed, sidling up to Eileen's right.
"She didn't have a good day in class," Cheryl spoke up when Eileen didn't respond. "Professor Moody tried to use the Imperius curse on her and it didn't really work. I think it just made her angry."
"He did what?" Severus' voice with rife with fury.
"He said we needed to know what it felt like, so we could fight it, but," Cheryl looked over at Eileen with a sad expression. "She tried to fight back."
"Did she?" This seemed to intrigue him. "What did she do?"
"Pretty much threatened to end him if he didn't knock it off," She shrugged. "Gave off a pretty serious vibe too, what with her hair floating all over the place."
"Was it?" Eileen finally spoke up, still with her eyes closed.
"Miss Pierce," Snape continued to sound frustrated. "Did you really try to attack your professor?"
"I guess so?" She muttered, still not quite fully returned to herself.
"...you guess so," He didn't sound amused.
"I don't know, I don't think I was doing it."
"Then he did gain control of you?" Cheryl wondered out loud.
"No," Eileen sat up a little, or attempted to before holding her head again and moaning. "I think part of me did it, just not...me."
"You're not making sense," Snape frowned further, but didn't sound entirely disbelieving, which surprised Cheryl.
Eileen thought for a moment before saying softly, "You know how you get in bad situations, some part of you just takes over and you feel like your body just...knows what to do?"
"Like an auto-pilot," Cheryl chimed in.
"I...what?" Eileen and Severus both seemed confused.
"It's...it's a Muggle thing. They use airplanes to fly great distances, or automobiles to travel on land. Some planes and cars have the ability to 'auto-pilot', you can set it up to fly or drive for you and it manages it for you," Cheryl explained as simply as possible.
"Yes," Eileen blinked and looked over at her. "Like that. Something else took over. I felt like I was trapped inside myself, I couldn't stop it from happening."
This seemed to trouble Severus as he scowled at her in silence. Cheryl watched him curiously before he noticed and paced away from them, saying, "I'll have to have a talk with him later."
"No, it's...it's really not his fault - " Eileen began to protest quietly.
"It certainly is his fault!" Severus snapped back. "He shouldn't have been using FORBIDDEN curses in class! They're Forbidden for a reason!"
"I didn't let him in though!" She argued, looking worried. "You taught me not to let people in!"
He turned on her with a bark, "Then why did you lose control!"
"I...I don't know!" She shrank back on the bed.
"Hey now!" Cheryl jumped up, putting her hands up in defense. "If you're mad at anyone, go yell at Professor Moody for doing it, or Dumbledore for letting him!"
This seemed to give Snape an idea as he swiftly exited the room, leaving the girls shaken and confused. With a huff, Cheryl flopped back into the chair, "Sheesh! I do NOT know what you see in that man. He's horrible!"
Eileen hugged her legs to her chest, burying her face in her knees to stifle her frustration. "Why can't anything ever be easy for me!"
"Eileen...him losing his cool isn't your fault," Cheryl leaned on the bed, trying to look at her face. "Neither is half the stuff that happens to you, to be honest. You just...have really bad luck."
"So it would seem," Eileen mumbled before turning her head to look at Cheryl forlornly. "At least I have friends now."
"That's right! You have me!" She beamed. "And I guess the Wonder Twins, but mostly me!"
Eileen smiled a little. "Yeah...oh, the twins...I haven't talked to them in a while."
"What are they up to? They seem like they're plotting something super serious all the time," Cheryl made a face at the idea. "With those two it can't be good."
"Probably not," Eileen admitted. "It's weird that Fred hasn't been talking to me. He usually finds me."
"I'm sure he's just distracted," she patted her arm reassuringly.
Sighing, Eileen moved to slide off the bed, "Maybe we should head to dinner."
Just then, Fred and George came bursting into the room, hurrying over to her hospital bed with looks of bewilderment.
"Eileen!"
"Dove!"
"Are you okay?" The boys inquired in unison as they reached her bedside.
"Speak of the devil's offspring," Cheryl groaned, never being much for their troublesome presence. But she could see the relief on Eileen's face seeing them come in, so she refrained from further comment.
Fred leaned on the edge of the bed, looking her over anxiously, "Oye, what'd that looney git do to you?"
"Nothing, I'm fine," Eileen smiled at him, hoping he'd believe her.
"Bollocks," George replied, hands on his hips. "Everyone's talking about how you tried to murder ol' Mad Eye."
"Murder?" Eileen looked worried. "Oh no, I wasn't...I mean..."
"Yeah, you looked real serious about it," George continued. "Thought you were going to beat Snape to it."
Fred elbowed his brother before returning his attention to Eileen, "Are you sure you're alright?"
She sighed, nodding, "Yes yes, I'm fine, really. It just took a lot out of me. He's strong."
"He better be for a retired Auror," Cheryl whistled. "I didn't stand a chance against him, and he's battled the likes of the Death-Eaters!"
"I suppose that's a good thing," Eileen wasn't so sure it was after what she went through, she wasn't sure she liked the side of her that came out.
"Blimey, Dove," Fred took her hand and squeezed it. "I'm just glad he didn't hurt you. That man is crazy!"
She felt her cheeks flush a little at his touch, glancing at Cheryl who was smirking to herself. "Well yes, he certainly is. He wanted me to bark like a dog."
"Bastard, he should be the one barking!" George fussed. "You should have given him a taste of his own medicine."
"That's the dumbest thing she could do!" Cheryl retorted, standing with her hands on her hips as well. "If she didn't accidentally kill him, she'd probably get sent to Azkaban or something, or have her wand taken away! You don't mess around with curses!"
"I was just kidding, cool it, Cheryl," George griped.
"Oh would you both stop, you're making my headache come back," Eileen groaned, touching her forehead.
"You should get something to eat. Come on," Fred hopped off the bed, still holding her hand. "Let's get to dinner before it's all gone!"
Eileen followed his lead, glancing back at Cheryl who was shaking her head at George as the three headed out of the room, slowly tagging along behind them.
"Irresponsible twits," Cheryl muttered to herself, secretly glad that they at least came to check on Eileen. Though she wondered what really happened to her, and if it could happen again. She hoped not.