Hi there everyone! I just wanted you to know, next chapter will take longer than a week before tomorrow I will leave for holiday (Rome, yeaaahh) and I won't be back until the monday after. I won't have written anything for the new chapter until then. Anyways, I hope you'll enjoy this full-JanicePOV'ed-chapter! I thought this would be only fair since last time she was only mentioned and had no POV.


Ch. 8 Mad-Eye Moody

POV JANICE DIGGORY:

I arrived in greenhouse three, but here I was distracted by Professor Sprout showing the class the ugliest plants I had ever seen. Indeed, they looked less like plants than thick, black, giant slugs, protruding vertically out of the soil. Each was squirming slightly and had a number of large, shiny swellings upon it, which appeared to be full of liquid.

"Bubotubers," Professor Sprout told them briskly. "They need squeezing. You will collect the pus -"

"The what?" said Seamus Finnigan, sounding revolted.

"Pus, Finnigan, pus," said Professor Sprout, "and it's extremely valuable, so don't waste it. You will collect the pus, I say, in these bottles. Wear your dragon-hide gloves; it can do funny things to the skin when undiluted, bubotuber pus."

We had to work in pairs of three, and this time I was the one left out so I had to form the only duo together with Neville Longbottom. Squeezing the bubotubers was disgusting, but oddly satisfying. As each swelling was popped, a large amount of thick yellowish-green liquid burst forth, which smelled strongly of petrol.

Neville and I actually had loads of fun together, he could talk about plants for hours. I caught it in the bottles as Professor Sprout had indicated, and by the end of the lesson we all had collected several pints.

"This'll keep Madam Pomfrey happy," said Professor Sprout, stoppering the last bottle with a cork. "An excellent remedy for the more stubborn forms of acne, bubotuber pus. Should stop students resorting to desperate measures to rid themselves of pimples."

"Like poor Eloise Midgen," said Hannah Abbott in a hushed voice. "She tried to curse hers off."

This caused a giggle to erupt from Lexie's mouth, to which several students glared at her.

A booming bell echoed from the castle across the wet grounds, signalling the end of the lesson. Bella, Claire, Lexie and I stood outside of the greenhouses, talking and enjoying the sun for a little while before we had to get to class.

"Ugh, I hate Herbology," Lexie complained for perhaps the thousandth time. "Those plants- ugh- and don't even get me started on the pus!"

"Says the girl who can watch all sorts of macabre stuff without a wince," Claire deadpanned, making the three of us laugh. "Anyway, I got to get to Arithmancy."

"Say hi to Blaise for me," Lexie said on purpose, watching Bella's anxious expression with a sadistic form of joy.

"Oh, come on, Bells," I said bracingly, placing a hand on her shoulder. "There's no need to be scared of him-"

"Yet," Lexie put in, grinning wickedly at Bella.

"You're a monster," Bella said, though her voice sounded weak.

"Love you too, Bells," her friend replied with a wink.

Despite everything, it made Bella smile.

"He hasn't even commanded you to do anything yet," Claire sighed.

"He's probably thinking of something big," Bella said darkly.

Claire rolled her eyes and left to class, after saying a quick goodbye. We were last to arrive, the other students were already there. Hagrid was standing outside his hut, one hand on the collar of his enormous black boarhound, Fang.

There were several open wooden crates on the ground at his feet, and Fang was whimpering and straining at his collar, apparently keen to investigate the contents more closely. As we drew nearer, an odd rattling noise reached our ears, punctuated by what sounded like minor explosions.

"Mornin'!" Hagrid said, grinning at us. "I already said ter the others 'Be'er wait fer the last ones, they won' want ter miss this' - Blast-Ended Skrewts!"

"Come again?" Bella said.

Hagrid pointed down into the crates.

"Eurgh!" I squealed, jumping backward.

"Eurgh" just about summed up the Blast-Ended Skrewts in my opinion. They looked like deformed, shell-less lobsters, horribly pale and slimy-looking, with legs sticking out in very odd places and no visible heads. There were about a hundred of them in each crate, each about six inches long, crawling over one another, bumping blindly into the sides of the boxes. They were giving off a very powerful smell of rotting fish. Every now and then, sparks would fly out of the end of a skrewt, and with a small phut, it would be propelled forward several inches.

"On'y jus' hatched," said Hagrid proudly, "so yeh'll be able ter raise 'em yerselves! Thought we'd make a bit of a project of it!"

"Wohoo!" cheered Lexie, but everyone who knew her knew it was just mockery.

"And why would we want to raise them?" said a cold voice.

For the first time this lesson, the other Slytherins had spoken. The speaker was Draco Malfoy. Crabbe and Goyle were chuckling appreciatively at his words. Hagrid looked stumped at the question.

"I mean, what do they do?" asked Malfoy. "What is the point of them?"

Hagrid opened his mouth, apparently thinking hard; there was a few seconds' pause, then he said roughly, "Tha's next lesson, Malfoy. Yer jus' feedin' 'em today. Now, yeh'll wan' ter try 'em on a few diff'rent things - I've never had 'em before, not sure what they'll go fer - I got ant eggs an' frog livers an' a bit o' grass snake - just try 'em out with a bit of each."

"In other words, they've got no use," Malfoy said harshly. "Why would we want to take care of something that has no use, and besides, is a disgusting little creature?"

I did not have much time to feel awful for Hagrid.

"I'm sure your parents asked themselves the exact same thing when you were born, Malfoy," Lexie countered, "God knows why they kept you. If you don't want to be here, just leave, which would be the better option for everyone's sake."

The Gryffindors laughed and 'ooh'-ed as the other students did their best not to snigger as loud as to anger Malfoy further, or his bodyguards. I found it hard to judge from Malfoy's face whether he was awed by Lexie's insolence or actually hurt or surprised. Probably a mixture of all of them. The two Slytherins, who hated each other as much as they once liked each other, were having a glare contest, and the tension of the moment made the audience uncomfortable.

"Now, now, no fighting," said Hagrid, awkward by the enormous tension hanging in the air, "get to yer skrewts, c'mon."

Nothing but deep affection for Hagrid could have made Bella, Harry, Ron, Lexie, Hermione and me pick up squelchy handfuls of frog liver and lower them into the crates to tempt the Blast-Ended Skrewts. I couldn't suppress the suspicion that the whole thing was entirely pointless, because the skrewts didn't seem to have mouths.

"Ouch!" yelled some Gryffindor kid next to Lavender after about ten minutes. "It got me."

Hagrid hurried over to him, looking anxious.

"Its end exploded!" he said angrily, showing Hagrid a burn on his hand.

"Ah, yeah, that can happen when they blast off," said Hagrid, nodding.

"Eurgh!" said Lavender. "Eurgh, Hagrid, what's that pointy thing on it?"

"Ah, some of 'em have got stings," said Hagrid enthusiastically (Lavender quickly withdrew her hand from the box). "I reckon they're the males… The females've got sorta sucker things on their bellies… I think they might be ter suck blood."

"Well, I can certainly see why we're trying to keep them alive," said Malfoy sarcastically. "Who wouldn't want pets that can burn, sting, and bite all at once?"

Everyone in their right minds knew that if they let Lexie do her thing this would lead into World War Three, so Hermione stood up quickly and scowled at Malfoy.

"Just because they're not very pretty, it doesn't mean they're not useful," she snapped. "Dragon blood's amazingly magical, but you wouldn't want a dragon for a pet, would you?"

I grinned at Hagrid, who gave them a furtive smile from behind his bushy beard. Hagrid would have liked nothing better than a pet dragon, as I knew only too well - he had owned one for a brief period during their first year, a vicious Norwegian Ridgeback by the name of Norbert. Hagrid simply loved monstrous creatures, the more lethal, the better. I had also yet to found out the appeal of having something like Aragog as a pet.

"Well, at least the skrewts are small," said Ron as we made our way back up to the castle for lunch an hour later.

"They are now," said Hermione in an exasperated voice, "but once Hagrid's found out what they eat, I expect they'll be six feet long."

"Well, that won't matter if they turn out to cure seasickness or something, will it?" said Ron, grinning slyly at her.

"You know perfectly well I only said that to shut Malfoy up before Lexie would," said Hermione. "As a matter of fact I think he's right. The best thing to do would be to stamp on the lot of them before they start attacking us all."

Lexie had no expression whatsoever on her pale face. To us that meant she was feeling upset. I bet she thought if she could not show any emotion that was not happiness, or cockiness or smugness or something alike she had best not show anything.

"Speaking of which, where did that come from?" Ron said. "It was like a sudden outburst of rage, and sass, and- that was bloody great."

Lexie smiled, but the smile did not quite reach her eyes. I was afraid this would not be the end of it. She'd hurt Malfoy, but she'd never wanted to. I bet she was also quite pissed that now she was fighting with him as the rest of us were, we couldn't stop talking about how 'great' it was. I feared one day she was really going to hurt him bad and she would be just as miserable herself.

"Weasley! Hey, Weasley!"

When I heard that voice, I feared that moment might be sooner than any of us wanted. We all wheeled around Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were standing there, each looking thoroughly pleased about something.

"What?" said Ron shortly.

"Your dad's in the paper, Weasley!" said Malfoy, brandishing a copy of the Daily Prophet and speaking very loudly. "Listen to this!"

"FURTHER MISTAKES AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC
It seems as though the Ministry of Magic's troubles are not yet at an end, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. Recently under fire for its poor crowd control at the Quidditch World Cup, and still unable to account for the disappearance of one of its witches, the Ministry was plunged into fresh embarrassment yesterday by the antics of Arnold Weasley, of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office
."

Malfoy looked up. "Imagine them not even getting his name right, Weasley. It's almost as though he's a complete nonentity, isn't it?" he crowed. "

Let's just go, shall we?" I squeaked. "Before this gets messy."

"Oh, it's already messy," Bella snapped. "Malfoy, if you knows what's good for you, you'll clear off right now and take that stupid newspaper with ya."

Malfoy smirked, straightened the paper with a flourish, and read on:
"Arnold Weasley, who was charged with possession of a flying car two years ago, was yesterday involved in a tussle with several Muggle law-keepers ("policemen") over a number of highly aggressive dustbins. Mr. Weasley appears to have rushed to the aid of "Mad-Eye" Moody, the aged ex-Auror who retired from the Ministry when no longer able to tell the difference between a handshake and attempted murder. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Weasley found, upon arrival at Mr. Moody's heavily guarded house, that Mr. Moody had once again raised a false alarm. Mr. Weasley was forced to modify several memories before he could escape from the policemen, but refused to answer Daily Prophet questions about why he had involved the Ministry in such an undignified and potentially embarrassing scene."

"And there's a picture, Weasley!" said Malfoy, flipping the paper over and holding it up. "A picture of your parents outside their house - if you can call it a house! Your mother could do with losing a bit of weight, couldn't she?"

Ron was shaking with fury.

"Get stuffed, Malfoy," said Harry. "C'mon, Ron…"

"Oh yeah, you were staying with them this summer, weren't you, Potter?" sneered Malfoy. "So tell me, is his mother really that porky, or is it just the picture?"

"You know your mother, Malfoy?" said Harry - both he and Hermione had grabbed the back of Ron's robes to stop him from launching himself at Malfoy - "that expression she's got, like she's got dung under her nose? Has she always looked like that, or was it just because you were with her?"

Malfoy's pale face went slightly pink.

"Don't you dare insult my mother, Potter."

"Keep your fat mouth shut, then," said Harry, turning away.

BANG!

I screamed. Harry plunged his hand into his robes for his wand, but before he'd even touched it, I heard a second loud BANG, and a roar that echoed through the corridor.

"OH NO YOU DON'T, LADDIE!"

I spun around. Professor Moody was limping down the marble staircase. His wand was out and it was pointing right at a pure white ferret, which was shivering on the stone-flagged floor, exactly where Malfoy had been standing. There was a terrified silence. Nobody but Moody was moving a muscle.

Moody turned to look at Harry — at least, his normal eye was looking at Harry; the other one was pointing into the back of his head.

"Did he get you?" Moody growled.

His voice was low and gravelly.

"No," said Harry, "missed."

"LEAVE IT!" Moody shouted.

"Leave - what?" Harry said, bewildered.

"Not you - him!" Moody growled, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at Crabbe, who had just frozen, about to pick up the white ferret.

It seemed that Moody's rolling eye was magical and could see out of the back of his head. Creepy. Moody started to limp toward Crabbe, Goyle, and the ferret, which gave a terrified squeak and took off, streaking toward the dungeons.

"I don't think so!" roared Moody, pointing his wand at the ferret again - it flew ten feet into the air, fell with a smack to the floor, and then bounced upward once more.

I think it was the first time I pitied Malfoy, but realizing this was only the beginning of the year, it might not be the last time.

"I don't like people who attack when their opponent's back's turned," growled Moody as the ferret bounced higher and higher, squealing in pain. "Stinking, cowardly, scummy thing to do…"

I could not imagine the kind of pain Malfoy had to be in. A terrible sense of guilt flowed over me, I had to do something- make it stop- The ferret flew through the air, its legs and tail flailing helplessly.

"Never - do - that - again -" said Moody, speaking each word as the ferret hit the stone floor and bounced upward again.

"Professor Moody!" said a shocked voice, but it was not my voice.

Professor McGonagall was coming down the marble staircase with her arms full of books. "Hello, Professor McGonagall," said Moody calmly, bouncing the ferret still higher.

"What - what are you doing?" said Professor McGonagall, her eyes following the bouncing ferret's progress through the air.

"Teaching," said Moody.

"Teach - Moody, is that a student?" shrieked Professor McGonagall, the books spilling out of her arms.

"Yep," said Moody.

"No!" cried Professor McGonagall, running down the stairs and pulling out her wand; a moment later, with a loud snapping noise, Draco Malfoy had reappeared, lying in a heap on the floor with his sleek blond hair all over his now brilliantly pink face. He got to his feet, wincing.

"Moody, we never use Transfiguration as a punishment!" said Professor McGonagall wealdy. "Surely Professor Dumbledore told you that?"

"He might've mentioned it, yeah," said Moody, scratching his chin unconcernedly, "but I thought a good sharp shock -"

"We give detentions, Moody! Or speak to the offender's Head of House!"

"I'll do that, then," said Moody, staring at Malfoy with great dislike.

Malfoy, whose pale eyes were still watering with pain and humiliation, looked malevolently up at Moody and muttered something in which the words "my father" were distinguishable.

"Oh yeah?" said Moody quietly, limping forward a few steps, the dull clunk of his wooden leg echoing around the hall. "Well, I know your father of old, boy… You tell him Moody's keeping a close eye on his son… you tell him that from me… Now, your Head of House'll be Snape, will it?"

"Yes," said Malfoy resentfully.

"Another old friend," growled Moody. "I've been looking forward to a chat with old Snape… Come on, you…"

And he seized Malfoy's upper arm and marched him off toward the dungeons. Professor McGonagall stared anxiously after them for a few moments, then waved her wand at her fallen books, causing them to soar up into the air and back into her arms. When McGonagall had cleared off, the first thing Bella did was burst into laughter.

"Don't talk to me," Ron said quietly.

"Why not?" said Hermione in surprise.

"Because I want to fix that in my memory forever," said Ron, his eyes closed and an uplifted expression on his face. "Draco Malfoy, the amazing bouncing ferret."

Harry, Hermione, Bella and he laughed, Lexie's face was frozen in an emotionless position, and I said crossly, "You should not laugh. My god, I can't imagine what he had to be feeling."

Then all my friends' faces displayed shock, but Lexie also looked pleasantly surprised.

"What? Come again?" said Bella loudly. "That stinking git finally got what was coming for him, and you say we shouldn't laugh?"

"Yeah, Janice," said Ron, "I mean, this was about the millionth time he insulted-"

"I know," I said, "but words are only words. What Moody did was practically physical torture!"

"He could have really hurt Malfoy, though," Hermione said. "It was good, really, that Professor McGonagall stopped it -"

"Hermione!" said Ron furiously, "you're ruining the best moment of my life!"

"Let's see how you feel when I turn you into a bouncing, ginger ferret!" shrieked Lexie suddenly.

She had her wand out already. I realized even when one had much control about their temper it was not impossible to snap. Ron, Harry and Bella looked immensely frightened by how she had lashed out.

"Well?" she eyes, her eyes narrowing, "anything to say, Weasley? Not so tough now, are you-?"

"Lexie," said Harry, nearly pleading, "Lexie, calm down, there's no need-"

"I won't even have to turn him, I suppose," Lexie said, her fingers closing around her wand so tightly her knuckles became all white. "I could just make him bounce on and off the walls."

I started to panic. I'd never imagined Lexie could attack a friend, but she was filled with an immense rage. Before anyone could do anything, I shouted, "Please, don't do anything! Just forget it, all right, Ron, stop laughing, Lexie, don't murder him and just forget it, all right?"

My voice had gone to a squeaky high quiver.

"I'll go and talk to Professor Moody, and tell him- well, tell him he shouldn't have," I even added.

"Sure," said Hermione breathlessly.

"I'm going to go and find Claire," Lexie said dryly, taking off.

"See you at lunch, I guess," I breathed.

"Yeah," said Harry uncomfortably.

I really had trouble keeping my breaths steady as I trotted toward the dungeons.

I loved Lexie with all my heart, but sometimes she could frighten me to death, with her threats and curses. I supposed Malfoy was really a painful spot for her. Even worse, I did not know how to help her.

It did not help that the rest of my friends thought she was so over him after her outburst in Care of Magical Creatures class either. I couldn't blame them for not knowing there would upset her by laughing.

When I reached the dungeons, I realized no one except for Professor Snape was there. My stomach still twisted when I saw that man. First he'd tried to help me, in his own strict way, then he'd helped me get to the Chamber of Secrets in second year, and in third year- the professor had just been so mean to her. Opening old wounds about her father…

But he had already noticed her hesitating at the door, so he asked, "What do you want?"

"I just thought Professor Moody would still be here," I said.

"You just missed him," said Snape. "He had to leave in a hurry- he should be back in his office by now."

I nodded, "Thank you, sir."

I left with mixed feelings and journeyed toward Moody's office, but just as I made to knock, I heard the weirdest noises.

It was a strange spluttering, coughing- choking.

Moody was choking! I couldn't just let him choke to death! Without knocking I flung open the door and my mouth fell open in shock, before I was blinded by a flash of light.


PAMPAMPAM!

1. Boy, was that a cliffhanger! What do you think happened?
2. Even though it was only just a little bit, I like the way Neville and Janice interact, just because I feel like they're sort of the same. Both great, honest, kind people but clearly underrated. Thoughts?
3. Only a mention of Blaise in this chapter. I dunno, I guess I just really wanted to express Bella's dread before I would really dedicate a chapter to the first thing he's going to make her do. On a scale from 1-10, how excited are you?
4. Things are really heating up between Lexie and Draco here, and not in a good way. I wanted to show the complexity of the situation, by first having her scold him, then having her standing up for him. (of course Janice stood up for him because of her morals and all-round sweetness) How do you feel about them?