Disclaimer: I do NOT own the Harry Potter series. That credit goes to the brilliant mind of J.K. Rowling. Go Jo! I also do not own some of the material used. Again that belongs to Jo and Warner Brothers
Chapter 2 Draco's Message
Harry and Hermione saw Pansy Parkinson give Ron a smile as they entered the Great Hall. Ron gave a low grown.
Hermione sighed and looked over at Ron and said, "Do you think she…"
"She must after what happened last year," Ron said, trying not to look at Pansy.
He saw Hermione look down, her cheeks being to flush.
"What made you do it?" Hermione then asked.
At first, Ron just opened his mouth, but nothing came out. After a moment, he cleared his throat and said, "I was in a very dark and confused place at the time. It would've been any girl who was showing me that kind of attention."
"Even me?" Hermione asked before she could stop herself.
Ron eyes grew. Could he tell her the truth?
"Er…" he began, still thinking what the best thing to say was.
"Oh, come on, Ron," Hermione said, her laugh making up Ron's mind for him.
"All right, yes," he admitted as Hermione beamed at him. Harry looked down, Ron figuring he was a bit embarrassed. "It would've been you if you were sitting next to me then."
"Good," Hermione simply said, though she seemed to want to scream out in happiness.
"See you two later," Ron said.
Hermione and Harry waved as Draco called, "Ron, over here."
Ron hesitantly sat next to Draco at the Slytherin table and asked, "Should I take this as a sign that things are back to normal for us?"
"I wouldn't be holding my breath as long as your mates with Potter and Granger. You should be hating people like them," Draco said as Ron rolled his eyes and began eating. "Anyway, never mind that. I have something to tell you."
Ron diverted from his food and looked at Draco and asked, "Yeah, what is it?"
"Well, remember what happened at the Quidditch World Cup?" Draco wondered. Ron looked down, not really wanting to remember it.
"What about it?" he finally asked.
Draco leaned in more so that no one could here him whisper, "My father told me that Dumbledore has employed an ex-Auror to be our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."
Ron had figured that the headmaster would do something like that to keep his school protected.
"Who?" he asked.
"Someone named Moody," Draco said. He then turned to his plate and took a piece of bacon.
Ron eyes grew and he asked, "Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody?"
Moody was said to be going crazy. He had been caught trying to curse someone whom he had believed was trying to curse. Ron's dad said that he was going loopy.
"I guess," Draco said with a shrug.
"All because the Dark Mark was cast?" Ron asked in a low voice.
He hadn't expected for Draco to say, "Well, no one on our side knows who did it either."
xxx
As Draco had said, Dumbledore had gotten Moody to fill the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. All the students looked at the scared and wooden legged teacher nervously.
"I'm Alastor Moody. I'm only here because Dumbledore asked me to. Now, I've looked over your past course work and have decided, with the approval of the Headmaster, of course, that it's time that you all need to learn about the Unforgivable Curses . Now, who can tell me how many there are?" he asked as Hermione's hand automatically flew up. "Yes, Miss…"
"Granger, sir," Hermione said, lowering her hand. "There are three."
"And they are so named?" Moody asked, still addressing Hermione.
"Because they are unforgivable," she said, her voice beginning to crack some. "Any use them and you…"
"Get a one way ticket to Azkaban," Moody said before letting her even finish.
Ron then noticed three spiders on the professor's desk and swallowed hard, and it wasn't just because he hated them with them a passion.
"Who can name one?" Moody asked.
This time, both Hermione and Ron's hands came up. Ron noticed Hermione and Harry look at him impressively.
"You'd be a Weasley I take it," Moody said without question.
"Yes, sir," Ron nodded. "My father told me about the Imperius Curse."
"Right," Moody loudly, making Ron jump a little. Several students' heads jerked back as well. "A lot of people have clamed that they were under this curse's influence when they did You-Know-Who's bidding." Ron gave Draco an uneasy look. That's the same excuse Draco's family had used. Did Moody know this?
Moody took one of the spiders out, pointed his wand at it, and said, "Imperio!"
The class started laughing as the professor made it dance and fly around the room.
"Thin that's funny," Moody asked, sending the spider crashing into a window. Everyone fell silent. It was clear that put under this curse, the poor spider couldn't do anything for itself. "Another?"
This time, a Gryffindor Ron knew as Neville Longbottom, raised his hand with Hermione.
Moody looked over at the boy and asked, "Longbottom, isn't it?"
Neville just nodded then said, "The… there's th… the Cruciatus Curse."
"Correct," Moody said. Without another word, he putted his wand at the second spider and declared, "Crucio!" A horrible scream then came from the spider. Neville closed his eyes tightly and turned away. Moody finally lifted the curse after Hermione had begged him to stop. Moody then cleared his throat and said, "If Death Eater's needed to get answers out of someone, they'd use this curse on them."
The class was completely silent as Neville sat back down in his seat.
"And the last curse?" Moody asked, this time more subdue.
Hermione surprisingly didn't have her hand up this time.
"Miss Granger?" Moody asked, clearly surprised that she hadn't wanted to answer.
She shook her head.
"No?" Moody asked, bringing the last spider in front of her on the desk. Hermione sniffed and looked way as Moody directed his wand at the spider and yelled, "Avada Kadavra! "
The last spider became very still.
"The Killing Curse. There's nothing more to say but this… only one person had known to survive it. And he's in this room," Moody said.
Ron's breathing became uneasy as the professor's gaze landed on none other than Harry Potter.
AN:
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