Blackeyed Girl

Hi again!

Thanks for sticking with the story after it was lying unfinished for so long.



@BubbliiSlut1 and Koolgirl18: I am very glad you like it so much! Thanks for reviewing!

@Daughter of a Serpent: I think you might be right ;)



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Chapter 26

The forgotten Nightmare



Eleanor lay in bed beside Phoebe. The moon cast a pale light into the room through the curtains.



“Why do you let him treat you like this?”, Eleanor whispered quietly, not sure if Phoebe was still awake or would even know what she was talking about. But Phoebe was awake, and she knew exactly what Eleanor was talking about.



“I could say that I need the money but the truth is that I love him. Anything he does to me is bliss.”



Eleanor was silent: “Do you like to get hurt by him?”



“No”, Phoebe paused, “but I rather have him hurt me than not do anything to me at all.”



“Why?”



“Because life without him is nothing... which I sometimes believe is worse than pain.”



“Is that what love is like?”



“If you are one of the unlucky ones like me, yes”, it was silent, “are you?”



“I\'m not in love”, said Eleanor and turned away.



“That is probably worse, you know”, said Phoebe and spoke no more.



Phoebe awoke to a pull on the blanket. She sat up in her bed just to see the outline of Eleanor scrambling to the floor and under the table, pulling the blanket around her. Her eyes were wide and pleading while they stared into nothingness.



“Don\'t do it! I will tell them I saw you! I\'ll tell them you were here! Please don\'t! Don\'t make me forget!”



“Eleanor!” Phoebe jumped out of bed and crouched down to her, “you are just dreaming. Everything is al right”, she touched Eleanor\'s shoulder to calm her down but the moment she touched her Eleanor jumped back with a scream: “NO DON\'T!”



Phoebe was thrown backwards against the wall with an invisible blast. She felt dizzy for a moment as the impact with the wall knocked the breath out of her. Terrified Phoebe hid behind the bed.



“Eleanor, what is it? Calm down. You are safe!”



Eleanor did not answer but Phoebe could see her figure shaking under the table and she could hear her whimpering quietly.



Phoebe watched her for a moment. Then she dared to crawl over to her nightstand. Hurriedly she scribbled down a note and then made her way towards the door, never leaving Eleanor out of her sight. She disappeared outside for a moment then returned. She slowly walked towards Eleanor again.



“Eleanor? Relax. It\'s just me. I won\'t come any nearer if you tell me not to, okay? There is no need for defensive magic. ...Can you hear me?”



“Yes”, came a quiet and pathetic voice out of the dark from under the table, “I\'m sorry.”



“No that\'s okay. You want to tell me what is going on with you?”



“I don\'t know”, Eleanor whispered.



“That\'s fine, too. ...Did you have a bad dream? Was it about what happened last night?”



“I... I don\'t know... I\'m so confused!” Eleanor grabbed her head as though she was trying to keep it from exploding.



“Al right... okay...” Phoebe slowly kneeled down and crawled towards Eleanor but she stopped about a meter away from her, not daring to come closer. They sat there for about twenty minutes. Then suddenly the door burst open and Snape stepped in. Phoebe jumped to her feet and turned towards him:



“Severus! I\'m so glad you\'re here. Your ward she... she showed up here late last night and was all upset. She insisted I let her stay the night and then... she went crazy. She had a dream or something. And she attacked me when I tried to get near her, but she didn\'t mean to. Something is really wrong with her!”



Snape remained silent and his eyes started, searching the room. He quickly spotted Eleanor under the table where she was still hugging herself. He bent down to her:



“Eleanor?”



“Yes”, she returned feebly.



“Come out of there.”



“No... I...”



“I said come out of there, now.” His voice was firm but calm.



Shakily she started to move and crawled out from under the table. She stood up and she looked like a mad person, with her hair ruffled and her face almost greenish in the pale moonlight.



“I don\'t know what is happening to me”, she said helplessly.



Snape only looked back at her for a moment, then he grabbed her cloak that was hanging over the chair. He approached her and flung it around her shoulders and he pushed her towards the door. But before they left he turned back to Phoebe who had been watching him the entire time. He glared down at her:



“You and I will have a talk about this later.”



“I wasn\'t going to hide her from you, Severus. I just agreed to let her stay the night. I would have told you in the morning.”



He backhanded her. She grabbed hold of the edge of the table to not fall. She was used to this kind of treatment.



“You made a mistake. And we will talk about it later”, he hissed.



“Yes”, she replied quietly without turning back to him. She did not need to see the anger in his face.



Snape grabbed Eleanor and left without another word. They apparated near to the Hogwarts grounds and then walked. Snape held his arm protectively around Eleanor\'s waist.



“What happened?” he asked quietly as they walked.



Eleanor remained silent.



“Is that actually a difficult question or are you just not wanting to tell me?”



Eleanor hesitated: “Both.”



“We will go and see the Headmaster. He can help.”



Snape took Eleanor into the castle and straight to Dumbledore\'s office. Dumbledore looked tired when he opened the door to them, but as soon as he had a glance at Eleanor he was alert and stood aside to let them enter.



“What had happened, Severus?”



Snape led Eleanor inside as he answered: “She never returned from Hogsmeade yesterday evening. I spend all night trying to find her. She had been with Draco Malfoy but he claimed that they divided in the afternoon”, he sat Eleanor down in an arm chair and tugged her cloak around her to keep her warm, “eventually Miss Granger told me that her, Potter and Weasley saw her later in the afternoon in the Hogshead but from there again, she left alone. And no one seemed to have seen her after that. I tried all sorts of locating spells but to no avail. I was just considering waking you and telling you about the missing student when I got an owl from my friend in the village who told me that Eleanor was with her. I instantly went to get her. Apparently Eleanor appeared at her door yesterday evening rather disturbed and the stupid woman decided to take her in over night and not tell anyone about it. Eleanor’s mental state deteriorated and so she let me know.”



Dumbledore approached Eleanor carefully and looked her in the eyes. Eleanor looked back blankly.



“Can you tell us what\'s wrong, Eleanor?” he asked softly. Eleanor closed her eyes and shook her head.



Dumbledore turned to Snape again: “That friend of yours, did she tell you anything more specific?”



Snape looked a bit uncomfortable and then said: “Not exactly, no... She said Eleanor unintentionally attacked her... but she was not very precise.”



“I think you should get her here. Use the floo network. She might be able to give us a clue. We should question her.”



Snape hesitated, he did not like the idea but then he agreed: “Of course you\'re right.” He turned towards Dumbledore\'s fireplace to contact Phoebe.



Meanwhile Dumbledore pulled another chair towards Eleanor and sat down in front of her. He looked at her and then took her hand.



“Eleanor, is there anything you can tell us.. anything at all. What did you do after you left the Hogshead?”



Eleanor shook her head: “I don\'t want to talk about it... I just... I feel sick. My head... I\'m so dizzy”, she held her head again.



“Severus be so good and get some water.”



Snape had just returned from the fireplace over in the corner. He hesitated again but then turned around again to produce some water in a goblet on the other side of the room.



Dumbledore was still observing Eleanor.



“Please, we want to help you. I understand it is hard and confusing, but if there is anything you can tell us... let us use it to help you.”



That moment Eleanor jumped out of her chair and took cover right under Dumbledore\'s desk:



“Don\'t! Don\'t do this! I\'ll tell them! I\'ll lie! I\'ll lie for you! You don\'t have to do this!”



Snape jerked around at the screaming. Eleanor had crawled deep under the desk and was rocking, holding her head with both hands.



“What is this!” he hissed, staring at her and eventually at Dumbledore, as his answer did not come. Dumbledore looked down at Eleanor calmly but helplessly.



“I honestly don\'t know. But we have to find out.” He kneeled down to Eleanor.



“Eleanor, can you hear me?” Eleanor didn\'t respond, “Please, if you can hear me, it is important that you answer me. Can you hear me, Eleanor?”



The Headmaster carefully reached out a hand towards her but as soon as his hand extended towards her under the desk she screamed an ear-piercing scream and Dumbledore was thrown backwards into a bookshelf. Snape jumped towards him to help him up.



“Are you alright?”



Dumbledore let Snape help him to his feet then he said calmly as though nothing had happened: “Yes, Severus, thank you.” he paused looking at Eleanor again, who had gone back to rocking under the desk, “extraordinary.” he said and then looked at Snape, “Have you ever encountered anything like this?”



Snape shook his head: “That is why I came to you”, he thought a moment, realising that Dumbledore was no wiser in this matter than himself, “but I am certain that she can hear us. She was acting just like this when I came to get her.” He walked towards the desk: “Eleanor! Get out of there! Now!” he waited, but there was no response, “I said NOW! Come out or I drag you out!” Eleanor did not react this time. Snape kneeled down and grabbed her by the arm trying to pull her out from under the desk. He screamed and retreated. Eleanor had bitten his hand. Cursing under his breath Snape pulled his wand but Dumbledore put his hand calming on his arm.

“Don\'t Severus, what ever she is doing right now, her subconscious is doing this to her for a reason. As long as we don\'t know what this is we should not disrupt it.”



Snape hesitated, then put away his wand: “You are right.”



“We should speak to anyone who is close to her, anyone she was in contact with recently, starting off with...”



It knocked on the door. It was Filch who had Phoebe with him, She was dressed in a thick travelling cloak.



“I came as fast as I could.” she said.



Snape\'s face turned a little stiff as he said: “Headmaster, this is Phoebe Hale. She looked after Eleanor last night.” he gave her a mean look, making sure she knew that he still was not alright with it.



“Thank you so much for coming at this early hour”, said Dumbledore and invited her in. She entered, looking around the office. She had never seen it, being a girl without magical powers born into a wizarding family she had never visited Hogwards, the school where her parents had first met and always had spoken off as the place to be. She spotted Eleanor under the Headmaster\'s desk.



“What is happening to the poor girl?” she asked.



“We don\'t know yet. We were hoping you could help us, since it seems she first got into this state at your home.”



Phoebe looked at Snape alarmed, thinking he might blame her for the stated his ward was in. Dumbledore noticed the terror in her face and continued quickly: “It seems most obvious to me that something happened to her just before she came to you that triggered this behaviour. As I understand it you did not know her. How come she spend the night at your house?” Dumbledore\'s voice was friendly and light but Phoebe still had to force her eyes away from Snape, who still seemed to blame her somehow.



“I went outside to feed the owl. I keep him outside you see. And there she was. She was sitting right around the corner from my door. It was rather late and cold. I was surprised to see her there. It appeared as though something was wrong but she wouldn\'t tell me.”



“Please, have a seat”, said Dumbledore and mentioned to a chair by the shelf. Phoebe sat down.



“How did you know her... you did recognise her to be Professor Snape\'s ward.”



Phoebe looked at Snape, his face was inscrutable then she looked at Dumbledore again: “Severus and I are friends. I had seen her around when I visited him, that\'s all.”



“So you are saying there is no reason why she would deliberately come to you?”



“We have never been introduced. ...In fact I don\'t think she even knew where I lived. It must have been accidental that she was outside my house. “



Dumbledore looked absent-mindedly at Eleanor, who\'s state had not changed: “I doubt that..., but lets move on. Why did you feel that something was wrong, as you said, anything besides the fact that she was sitting outside your house?”



“Well Sir, it was very cold... and late … and she was just sitting there, as though asleep, but she was staring. She looked traumatised... something must have happened to her, but she would not tell me, she denied that anything had happened.”



Dumbledore turned to Snape who had been standing by silently: “We should speak to Mr. Potter and his friends. I believe it is crucial that we find out what happened to her that brought her to Miss Hale\'s house.” He paused and sighed quietly as he watched Eleanor rocking under the table, “I suppose it would be wise after all to give her something to calm her down so we can put her to bed. And then we should start a proper investigation. Miss Hale, would you mind to be put up in the castle for a little longer? It would make things easier in case we have any more questions.”



Phoebe looked at Snape again, but there was nothing she could read in his face: “Of course, I am happy to help as long as I can be of help.”