A/N: If I ever skip posting a chapter feel free to yell at me and I'll get one out as soon as possible.
Disclaimer: I only own Bella and her family.
Professor Moody
As it turned out, an event that happened later that day lead to Draco and I ignoring our little argument.
"How dare he!" I exclaimed, pacing in front of a couch within the Slytherin common room. Draco was sitting on the end of the couch with Crabbe and then Goyle sitting on his other side.
"A teacher using magic on a student! What is wrong with him? He had absolutely no right to do such a thing. I can't believe our headmaster hired such a loon!" I was, obviously, speaking of what the so-called Professor Moody had done to Draco.
"My father says that Dumbledore is the worst thing that ever happened to this school," Draco informed me. "That man is not right in his head. I doubt he has been for some time now. He's certainly too old to be running a school. My father will certainly hear of this."
"I can't believe we have a mental teacher here at Hogwarts. An adult who would attack a student has no business being here! And I've heard of this, this retired auror before. I've heard he's incredibly paranoid. I wouldn't at all be surprised if the madman attacked the children of former death eaters. He'll probably believe they're all after him for some insane reason! What will the school do then?!"
After my little rant I was finally calm enough to sit on the arm of the couch and ask, "How are you, Draco? Are you okay?" I asked, running my fingers through his hair.
"Smashed me against the floor after turning me into a ferret," Draco said resentfully. "Multiple times." I leaned down and kissed his forehead.
"I cannot believe he did this. That mental madman. Is there anything that I can do for you, Draco? Do you need to go to Madam Pomfrey?"
"No," he told me before turning his head and saying, "Crabbe, Goyle, leave." He then scooted over on the couch and I moved from the arm of the couch to beside Draco. I knew Draco often milked it when he was harmed. This was encouraged by Narcissa who would fuss over him incessantly, but in this case, I believed Draco deserved a bit of fussing. I mean, he was turned into a ferret and smashed against the floor repeatedly by at teacher in front of a large group of students. I had yet to ascertain why this had happened, but no matter the reason it was completely inappropriate.
"It would help if you would rub my shoulders a bit," he told me, turning slightly to the side. "Moody slammed me down hard."
I moved forward and placed my hands low on his shoulders. "Why did he even do this in the first place?" I asked.
Draco made a 'tch' sound. "Potter insulted my mum, so I threw a spell at him when he turned to leave after insulting her. Moody freaked out over me 'attacking an opponent whose back was turned'." Knowing Draco as well as I did, I wondered what he had said to Potter to make him insult Narcissa, but I knew better than to ask.
The first day of class we had Professor Moody was Wednesday. After being taught by him, my opinion of the man did not improve in the slightest.
"All right," Moody said, making his slow, noisy way up to the front of the classroom, "which of you lot can tell me about any of the unforgivable curses?"
I froze in my seat. I knew one of the unforgivable curses. I knew it well, having had it used upon me in my youth. Draco, who was sitting beside me, noticed and grabbed my hand underneath the desk. Draco knew why I was upset; I was willing to bet he was upset as well. He had been there that day and had interfered.
My grandfather on my father's side was a horrific man. He had been a death eater when the Dark Lord was around. He managed to avoid being sent to Azkaban by moving to the United States, but his belief in you-know-who's principles never changed. When I was eight or nine, my family went to America to visit him (this was not the first time, we did this every once in a while). Draco, whose parents were celebrating their anniversary, came with us. When my parents were out shopping, I let slip that I had a muggle friend. My grandfather was positively livid and used the Cruciatus Curse on me. Draco attempted to stop him. Or course, the efforts of such a young boy amounted to very little and he had the curse performed upon himself as well.
My parents came back to find the two of us huddled in a corner, our arms wrapped around each other. My father dueled with my grandfather, though I'm not sure what came of the fight as my mother removed Draco and myself from the house. Needless to say, my family has not had contact with the man since that day.
Nott raised his hand and stated, "The Imperious curse."
"Ah, yes," said Moody. "A very dangerous one indeed. Gave the Ministry a lot of trouble a few years back. It's impossible to prove whether or not someone has been under that curse, and many claimed to have done evil things only because they were under the influence of that very curse."
Professor Moody reached into a jar on his desk, took out a spider, and performed the Imperious Curse upon it. He asked what other curses we were aware of. As the other two curses were named, Moody performed those spells upon two spiders inside the jar on his desk. When he used the Cruciatus Curse, I gripped Draco's hand tighter, looking down at my desk rather than at the spider.
After Professor Moody performed the last curse, the killing curse, I was sure I wasn't the only one in the room whose thoughts turned to the only person to ever survive the Avada Kedavra Curse. After all, that event was half of what made Harry Potter the most famous wizard in our world; the other being that after attacking Potter, the Dark Lord vanished.
It was rather obvious that many students in the class were thrilled with the lesson. They were glad to see what could be done with the three unforgivable curses. As for myself, I was completely and utterly appalled. It was all well and good to teach the other three houses about these curses, but teaching those three houses the Dark Arts and teaching Slytherins the Dark Arts are two very different things. I was sure many of my classmates within the room planned to join the Dark Lord, should he ever return. It seemed foolish to me to teach them the Dark Arts early on. One may as well open up a training camp for them. Moody could teach it and call it, 'The Crash Course for Future Death Eaters'.
One would think that schools would desire to give children good examples, and to steer them away from the Dark Arts, not spark their interest in it. It was truly appalling. And though Draco had not liked the reminder of the torture curse, I would not have been surprised if he was just as interested in the other two curses as everyone around us.
This was a very heavy matter, not one that should be taught lightly to students who likely had darker ambitions for their futures.
Defense Against the Dark Arts put me in a foul mood and I fumed all the way to my Arithmancy class. When I got to class, I slammed my bag down by the seat next to Hermione's and fell into my seat.
"Something wrong, Bella?" Hermione asked cautiously.
"Have you had a Defense Against the Dark Arts class yet?" I asked her.
"No, I won't have that class until tomorrow."
"Do you have any idea what that mental ex-auror is teaching?" Without pausing for a response I continued, "He's teaching the three unforgivable curses. He just taught three of the most dangerous curses in existence to a class of Slytherin fourth years. Do you think that's a good idea? And is it even legal for them to be showing us these curses? He performed the curses on spiders, but he still performed them, and I know that performing those curses is illegal. What you happen to use them on certainly should not matter since someone who wanted to use those curses might practice on insects and small creatures if they wanted to work their way up, now mightn't they?"
"Well, I suppose that Professor Moody isn't thinking in those terms," Hermione said slowly. "He probably just wants to make sure that all of the students are prepared should they happen to encounter those curses. That is a form of defense, knowing exactly what it is you're up against."
I glared at Hermione. "That may be all well and good for your house, but not all of the houses at this school always have the best intentions in mind, now do they?" I glared down at my desk and muttered, "This is counterproductive to what I came here to accomplish."
"I'm sorry, what was that last bit?" Hermione asked.
I looked back up from my desk. "Nothing important. I was more just talking to myself."
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I bet Professor Dumbledore authorized Professor Moody to teach us those curses."
I snorted. That didn't make me feel better at all. "And do you know what else that git of a professor did?" I asked her, however, Professor Vector walked in at that moment and we ceased our conversation.
After class was over (though I was highly upset, the class was still very interesting) Hermione continued our conversation where it had left off. "You should not insult teachers, but what did Professor Moody do?"
"He turned a student into a ferret! As a punishment! And then proceeded to smack him into the floor. That is completely inappropriate, and an abuse of his powers!"
"That is correct. I was there, and Professor Moody was out of line in punishing Malfoy like that, but I truly think that he was only trying to teach him a lesson. He just went about it in the wrong way. A really wrong way.
"You know, Bella, I know I've only known you for less than a week, but the more I talk to you, the more confused I become as to why you are in Slytherin. You're not prejudiced against muggle-borns, and you're upset about being taught the Dark Arts. Are you sure the hat sorted you correctly? You were sorted by the hat, weren't you?"
"'Course I was sorted by the hat, and 'course I belong in Slytherin." I was offended at that accusation. Though I was having issues with my housemates, I liked my house. Well, I liked the general idea of my house, at least. "It's not that I'm upset about me being taught the Dark Arts, it's that there are many easily corruptible minds in my house, and they don't need any bad influences, no matter how slight, in their lives. Those people could very easily go down a dark and dangerous path.
"And I assure you, once you get to know me more you will understand why I was placed in the Slytherin House. Though my prejudices do not match many of theirs, my temperament surely does. Except that I do it better, because I'm always clever when I'm rude."
Hermione stared at me for a moment. "Do you have any prejudices?" she asked.
I looked up at the ceiling, pondering for a bit. "I don't like vampires," I told her. "I met a few once. Nasty creatures they are. I certainly never want to meet any of them again if I can help it."
