"Yes," came the reply from Moody. "I'm always alone in my office every night." Harry felt absolutely nothing when Moody gave the reply. No truth, no lies- it was as if he was following an order without any feeling.
What on earth was that? thought Harry. Something was clearly wrong about what he just sensed. He decided to focus on Moody's dark detectors. "Sir, do you make a regular habit of ignoring all the dark detectors you've set up around your office?" Once again, Harry saw a quick flash of the images of Moody's instruments, before the strange voice boomed again, "You must keep my existence a secret."
"There weren't any sensors going off, Mr. Potter," growled Moody. Harry felt the conflict inside Moody's head. Clear lie, thought Harry. He had to be getting close. Harry felt his heart thumping while his breathing quickened. His palms felt sweaty. He knew it would be tricky, but he had to expose Moody somehow. Who was giving him these orders? he wondered. He then realized it could be the perfect question. He looked at Hermione, giving a small nod which meant "get ready."
"Whose existence must you keep secret, Professor Moody? Who keeps giving you orders?" Harry heard the voice again, booming louder than ever, "YOU MUST KEEP MY EXISTENCE A SECRET." Harry sensed extreme conflict within Moody, as if he was fighting against himself. That was the only warning he received before Moody whipped out his wand, the tip already glowing with a spell ready to fly.
The next few seconds dragged out like hours as the adrenaline burst hit. Harry ducked down as fast as he could, pulling Hermione with him. The first spell missed his head by inches, but Moody's wand wasn't stopping. He tried pulling his wand out of his pocket, but it was twisted in an awkward position as he crouched. Hermione whipped hers out of her sleeve, immediately casting a Protego charm with all her might, just in time to block Moody's second spell. The force of it shattered the shield and threw Hermione several feet back, as she landed on the Hufflepuff table. Harry felt a rush of blind rage when he saw Hermione go flying, second only to his fear that she could be dead. Staying low, he cast the most powerful banishing charm he could at Moody's fake leg. He rolled away from the staff table towards Hermione as the metallic leg flew off of Moody's body and bounced along the back walls. Concentrating on his most powerful shield held behind him, he rushed to his beloved's aid.
Meanwhile, the staff were completely surprised by the sudden attack by Moody. Several watched in shock as Moody launched a silent Obliviate at Harry, followed by a Bludgeoner at Hermione. Dumbledore and Hagrid were the first to react. Right after he had struck Hermione, Moody quickly began animating the tablecloth, which moved to envelope Harry. Dumbledore cancelled the animation while Hagrid used his massive arms to reach right across Professor McGonagall and slam down on Moody's wand. Moody dodged Hagrid's enormous fist, which slammed down on the table, cracking it at the point of impact. Professor Flitwick had somehow moved from the far end of the table and was running on top of it, throwing several immobilization and restraining jinxes at Moody. Completely ignoring Flitwick, he was about to cast another spell at Harry when his leg flew from underneath him, flipping him over as it rocketed away from his body. Dumbledore quickly had him stunned and bound, and removed his wand.
"Yeh alrigh' there, 'Arry?" Hagrid bounded over to Harry.
"I'm fine, Hagrid. It's Hermione..." Harry was cradling her in his arms.
"Oh, stop worrying, Harry... I'll be fine after a visit to the infirmary." Hermione said weakly. She coughed a few times. "Ok, maybe I'll have to stay overnight, but it's not too bad."
"I'm so sorry for putting you through this, Hermione. I never should have brought you into a situation like this."
"Don't be ridiculous. It was my idea in the first place, in case you don't remember."
"Mr. Potter! Miss Granger! Please, come to the infirmary immediately. You can let her go, Mr. Potter, I'll levitate her myself." Madam Pomfrey had made her way from the broken staff table to where the two of them lay. They were quickly escorted away from the shocked stares from the entire student body.
Amelia Bones never would have imagined herself in this position. She was interrogating her own mentor, the legendary Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody. The only reason she received the position of Head of Magical Law Enforcement was that Moody himself had turned it down several times. Where should she even start? Facing the grizzled, veteran auror sitting in front of her, she fell back to basic training.
"Well, Alastor Moody, you have the right to legal counsel before answering any questions..."
"Amelia, quit dillydallying and give me the Veritaserum already," growled Moody. "I've taught you to trust nothing less, and even then, have your doubts to the veracity of the answers."
She only just managed to resist answering with "Yes, sir" as she ordered a vial of Veritaserum to be brought in. Giving Moody the standard dose of three drops, she began the standard interrogation.
"What is your full name?"
"Alastor Maddox Moody."
"Why did you attack Harry Potter and Hermione Granger this morning?"
"I was under the Imperius curse to protect the identity of the one who cast the curse on me. Harry Potter demonstrated that he knew I was under Imperius."
Who on earth could possibly keep Moody under the Imperius? He could break the Imperius of anyone in the DMLE, thought Bones. They must have been close by, if he acted before he could break it. "How long were you under the curse?"
"Since August 24th, when somebody broke into my home."
The head of the DMLE was floored. Somebody had managed to keep Moody under an Imperius for one and a half months? She had to know what kind of wizard that was. "Who cast the Imperius on you?"
"I don't know."
"Why were you unable to throw off the curse?"
"I was stunned during the attack on my home. I believe I was forced to drink will-weakening potion before the Imperius curse was cast. One of the first commands given to me was to drink some more, and always take another dose at least once every eight hours from my hip-flask." Immediately, Madam Bones told one of her aurors to get the DMLE's resident potions master and have him analyze the contents of the hip flask.
"What other orders have you been given through the Imperius?"
"Act as normally as possible. Do not attempt to discover the identity of my curser. Ensure I am alone in my office every night before bed. Keep the identity of my curser a secret. Drink a sleeping draught each night before bed. Keep the fifth compartment of my trunk unlocked. Continue brewing will-weakening and sleeping potions in secret. Allow myself to be stunned."
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