Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine.
Chapter 9 – DADA
The fourth-year Gryffindors couldn't wait for their first Defense Against the Dark Arts class, but they had to make it through Tuesday and Wednesday first, which included their first Potions class. Snape seemed to be in a worse mood than ever before, and when Neville melted his cauldron during class, Snape gave him detention disemboweling horned toads.
"Neville!" Hermione exclaimed when Neville had entered the common room the night after his detention; his hands were covered in toad guts. "Neville, come here. I'll help you—" She gestured to Neville to join her on the couch. She began to teach him the Scourging Charm to get rid of the bits that were stuck under his fingernails.
"You know why Snape's in such a foul mood, don't you?" Ron said.
"Yeah," Harry replied. "Moody. I reckon Snape's a bit scared of him, you know."
"Why would Snape be afraid of Moody?" Lucy asked. "I guess Moody can be a bit intimidating—"
"Imagine if Moody turned Snape into a horned toad," Ron said, "and bounced him all around his dungeon.…"
Lucy, Harry, and Neville laughed.
~LJ:D~
Thursday finally arrived, and as soon as they were done with lunch, the Gryffindor fourth-years hurried up to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom well before the bell rang. Hermione was the only one missing.
"Where's Hermione?" Lucy asked, standing on her toes and looking around. "She's going to be late—"
Hermione joined them a moment later and said, "Been in the—"
"Library," Harry finished for her. "C'mon, quick, or we won't get decent seats."
Harry and Ron went into the room first, followed by Lucy and Hermione, and they took seats in the front row. The rest of the class filled in behind them. Everyone retrieved their textbooks and waited quietly for Moody to show up.
They heard his wooden leg clunking down the hallway a few minutes later, and he entered the classroom and walked to the front of the room.
"You can put those away," he told them. "Those books. You won't need them." He took a seat at his desk and pulled out a list. He began to take attendance, calling out each student's name and looking at them with his magical eye.
"Right, then," he began when he'd finished roll call. "I've had a letter from Professor Lupin about this class. Seems you've had a pretty thorough grounding in tackling Dark creatures—you've covered boggarts, Red Caps, hinkypunks, grindylows, Kappas, and werewolves, is that right?"
The class nodded and murmured in confirmation.
"But you're behind—very behind—on dealing with curses," Moody continued. "So, I'm here to bring you up to scratch on what wizards can do to each other. I've got one year to teach you how to deal with Dark—"
"What, aren't you staying?" Ron interrupted.
Moody turned to look at Ron for a moment before a smile spread across his face. Ron looked relieved that Moody was not angry.
"You'll be Arthur Weasley's son, eh?" Moody said. "Your father got me out of a very tight corner a few days ago.… Yeah, I'm staying just the one year. Special favor to Dumbledore.… One year, and then back to my quiet retirement." He let out a loud laugh.
"So—straight into it," he continued. "Curses. They come in many strengths and forms. Now, according to the Ministry of Magic, I'm supposed to teach you countercurses and leave it at that. I'm not supposed to show you what illegal Dark curses look like until you're in your sixth year. You're not supposed to be old enough to deal with them until then.
"However, Professor Dumbledore's got a higher opinion of your nerves. He reckons you can cope, and I say, the sooner you know what you're up against, the better. How are you supposed to defend yourself against something you've never seen? A wizard who's about to put an illegal curse on you isn't going to tell you what he's going to do. He's not going to do it nice and polite to your face. You need to put that away, Miss Brown, when I'm talking."
Lucy turned her head quickly to see Lavender blushing and shoving something back into her backpack. How could she not be paying attention to this? Lucy thought to herself.
"So…" Moody began again, "do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by Wizarding law?"
Lucy was surprised to see multiple hands go into the air. Moody pointed to Ron first.
"Er," Ron started, "my dad told me about one.… Is it called the Imperius Curse or something?"
"Ah, yes," Moody said, nodding. "Your father would know that one. Gave the Ministry a lot of trouble at one time, the Imperius Curse." He stood up and took a glass jar out from his desk drawer. Inside the jar were three black spiders. Moody reached down into the jar, caught one of them, and held it out on the palm of his hand. "Imperio," he said, pointing his wand at the spider.
The spider began to perform acrobatics, right on Moody's desk. It swung on threads of its own web and then did a back flip onto the desk before beginning to tap dance on two of its legs. Everyone was laughing.
"Think it's funny, do you?" Moody said in a completely serious voice. "You'd like it, would you, if I did it to you?"
The students stopped laughing and looked at their teacher warily.
"Total control," Moody continued, as the spider rolled around on the desktop. "I could make it jump out the window, drown itself, or throw itself down one of your throats.… Years back, there were a lot of witches and wizards being controlled by the Imperius Curse. Some job for the Ministry, trying to sort out who was being forced to act and who was acting of their own free will.
"The Imperius Curse can be fought. I'll be teaching you how, but it takes real strength of character. Not everyone's got it. Better avoid being hit with it if you can. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he suddenly shouted, causing his class to jump.
Moody picked up the spider and put it back into the jar. "Anyone else know one?" he asked the class. "Another illegal curse?"
Only a couple hands were in the air this time—including, to everyone's surprise, Neville.
"Yes?" Moody said, calling on Neville.
"There's one—the Cruciatus Curse," Neville responded.
"Your name's Longbottom?" Moody asked, and Neville nodded. Moody reached down in the jar and picked up the next spider, placing it on the desk. "The Cruciatus Curse," he said. "Needs to be a bit bigger for you to get the idea." He pointed his wand at the spider and said, "Engorgio!"
The spider grew larger, and Ron pushed his chair backwards, putting as much space between himself and Moody's desk as possible.
Moody pointed his wand at the spider again and said, "Crucio!"
The spider began to twitch violently, rolling onto its back and rocking back and forth. Moody kept his wand on it, and it continued to shake in what was obviously pain.
"Stop it!" Hermione shouted suddenly.
Lucy looked at her to see her staring at Neville, whose eyes had widened. He had gone pale and looked absolutely disturbed. Moody finally released the spider from the curse, and the spider seemed to relax a little bit.
"Reducio," Moody murmured. The spider returned to regular size, and he put it back into the jar. "Pain," he explained. "You don't need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can perform the Cruciatus Curse.… That one was very popular once, too. Right—anyone know any others?"
Hermione was the only one to raise her hand this time.
"Yes?" Moody called on her.
"Avada Kedavra," she said quietly.
There was an uneasy silence that settled around the room.
"Ah," Moody said. "Yes, the last and worst. Avada Kedavra—the Killing Curse." He reached into the jar once more and took out the last spider. When he placed the spider down, it tried to escape from him, and he pointed his wand at it quickly. "Avada Kedavra!" he shouted.
A bright green light flashed, and the spider had fallen onto the desk, dead. Lucy felt herself breathing heavily, although she couldn't place why.
"Not nice," Moody said. "Not pleasant. There's no countercurse—there's no blocking it. Only one known person has ever survived it, and he's sitting right in front of me." He looked down at Harry, and Lucy felt her hands begin to shake.
She hadn't been in the house when her parents had been killed by You-Know-Who. She had been sent away for her own safety, when her parents had known they were being hunted. She hadn't ever really thought about how they had died. One curse, and You-Know-Who had killed them. Then, when he turned on Harry, the curse had failed.
"Avada Kedavra's a curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behind it," Moody said. "You could all get your wands out now, point them at me, and say the words, and I doubt I'd get so much as a nosebleed. But that doesn't matter; I'm not here to teach you how to do it.
"Now, if there's no countercurse, why am I showing you? Because you've got to know. You've got to appreciate what the worst is. You don't want to find yourself in a situation where you're facing it. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he barked again, making them all jump.
"Now—those three curses—Avada Kedavra, Imperius, and Cruciatus—are known as the Unforgivable Curses," Moody told them. "The use of any one of them on a fellow human being is enough to earn a life sentence in Azkaban. That's what you're up against. That's what I've got to teach you to fight. You need preparing. You need arming. Most of all, you need to practice constant, never-ceasing vigilance. Get out your quills—copy this down—"
~LJ:D~
Moody had the fourth-years taking notes for the rest of the hour about the Unforgivable Curses. Nobody spoke as class finished up, but when the bell rang and Moody let them leave, they all broke out into conversation. Most of their class was in awe of Moody.
"Hurry up," Hermione said to Lucy, Harry, and Ron.
"Not the ruddy library again," Ron groaned.
"No," Hermione replied. "Neville."
Neville was quite far ahead of them, and Hermione hurried to catch up to him, followed by the other three. He was standing in the middle of the hall, staring at the wall across from him. He still looked horrified at what had happened in class.
"Neville?" Hermione asked.
"Oh, hello," Neville said, his voice shaky. "Interesting lesson, wasn't it? I wonder what's for dinner. I'm—I'm starving, aren't you?"
"Neville, are you all right?" Lucy asked.
"Oh, yes, I'm fine," Neville said unconvincingly. "Very interesting dinner—I mean lesson—what's for eating?"
Ron started, "Neville, what—?"
They heard clunking behind them and turned to see Moody coming towards them. They all looked at him apprehensively.
"It's all right, sonny," he said to Neville in a surprisingly gentle voice. "Why don't you come up to my office? Come on… we can have a cup of tea.…"
Neville didn't say anything, looking at Moody with a terrified expression, and Moody turned to Harry.
"You all right, are you, Potter?" he asked.
"Yes," Harry replied, almost fiercely.
Moody looked him over for a moment. "You've got to know," he said. "It seems harsh, maybe, but you've got to know. No point pretending—well—come on, Longbottom. I've got some books that might interest you." He put his hand on Neville's shoulder and steered him away.
"What was that about?" Ron asked.
"I don't know," Hermione said, frowning.
"Come on, let's get down to dinner," Lucy said.
They set off for the Great Hall.
"Some lesson, though, eh?" Ron said as they walked. "Fred and George were right, weren't they? He really knows his stuff, Moody, doesn't he? When he did Avada Kedavra—the way the spider just died—just snuffed it right—" Ron stopped abruptly as he noticed the odd look on Harry's face.
They reminded silent the rest of the way through the castle.
~LJ:D~
In the Great Hall, Hermione gobbled up her dinner and left for the library. Harry and Ron talked about Quidditch, but Lucy didn't join in. She was still thinking about her parents' terrible fate. When they were finished, the three of them headed back up to Gryffindor Tower.
"Wouldn't Moody and Dumbledore be in trouble with the Ministry if they knew we'd seen the curses?" Harry asked when they neared the portrait of the Fat Lady.
"Yeah, probably," Ron said, "but Dumbledore's always done things his way, hasn't he? Besides, Moody's been getting in trouble for years, I reckon. Attacks first and asks questions later—look at his dustbins. Balderdash."
The portrait swung open, and the three of them climbed into the common room.
"Shall we get our Divination stuff, then?" Harry asked Ron.
"I s'ppose," Ron replied. "We'll be right back," he added to Lucy, who waved them off.
"Lu!" George called.
Lucy smiled and crossed the room to join him and Fred at a table. "Hi," she said, slipping into the chair between them. "What are you two working on so secretively over here?"
"This?" Fred asked, rolling up the parchment. "This is nothing. I'll be back in a few." He stood up and went over to where Angelina Johnson, another sixth-year and a Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, was sitting.
Lucy gave George a puzzled look.
"My brother seems to fancy Angelina over there," George explained quietly. "Actually, he's fancied her for the past few years, but this year he seems determined to win her over."
"I see," Lucy said, watching as Fred sat down next to Angelina and said something that made her laugh.
"So—have you had a Defense Against the Dark Arts class yet?" George asked.
"Yeah, just today," Lucy answered. She watched as Harry and Ron reentered the common room and sat down at their own table to work on their Divination homework.
"And?" George prompted. "What did you think? He really knows his stuff, doesn't he?"
"He showed us the Unforgivable Curses," Lucy replied. "It was horrible. One curse, and he killed this spider right in front of us."
"The Killing Curse?" George asked. "Well, at least now you know what it looks like."
"That curse killed my parents," Lucy said hollowly. "I knew they were dead.… I just never realized it was that horrible."
"I thought you didn't know who your parents were," George said, frowning.
Lucy looked up at him quickly. "I know some things about them," she said carefully. George was looking at her with a mixture of concern and curiosity in his expression, and she said, "I should catch up with Harry and Ron. I'll talk to you later."
She got up and hurried over to Ron's and Harry's table before George could ask her anymore questions. "What are you two working on?" she asked as she sat down next to Harry.
"Divination," Harry replied, showing her a planetary chart. "We have to come up with predictions about what's going to happen to us for the next month according to our charts."
"That sounds terrible," Lucy said. "I think I'll work on Potions."
~LJ:D~
The three Gryffindors were quiet for the better part of an hour. When Lucy finished her Potions essay, she sat back and watched Harry and Ron struggle over their Divination homework.
"I haven't got a clue what this lot's supposed to mean," Harry said eventually, dropping his quill onto the table.
"You know, I think it's back to the old Divination standby," Ron said.
"What—make it up?" Harry asked.
"Yeah," Ron said.
"Do you really think you could bullshit enough stuff for a whole month?" Lucy asked, crossing her legs underneath her and leaning forward, resting her elbows on the table.
"Sure, how hard could it be?" Ron said. He pushed his stuff aside, pulled a fresh piece of parchment towards him, and began to write. "Next Monday, I am likely to develop a cough, owing to the unlucky conjunction of Mars and Jupiter." He looked up at Harry and added, "You know her—just put in loads of misery. She'll lap it up."
"Just say that you'll see the Grim and die, Harry," Lucy giggled.
"Right," Harry said, smirking. He also took out a new piece of parchment and began to write. "Okay—on Monday, I will be in danger of—er—burns."
"Yeah, you will be," Ron said, nodding. "We're seeing the skrewts again on Monday. Okay, Tuesday, I'll—erm—"
"Lose a treasured possession," Harry said as he looked through his Divination textbook.
"Good one," Ron commented, scribbling on his parchment. "Because of—erm—Mercury."
"Why don't you get stabbed in the back by someone you thought was your friend?" Lucy suggested.
"Yeah… cool…" Harry muttered as he scrawled onto his homework, "because—Venus is in the twelfth house."
"And on Wednesday, I think I'll come off worse in a fight," Ron said.
"Aaah, I was going to have a fight," Harry said. "Okay, I'll lose a bet."
"Yeah, you'll be betting I'll win my fight," Ron said.
~LJ:D~
For the next hour, Lucy helped Harry and Ron to come up with unfortunate events that could happen to them in the next month. Meanwhile, the common room steadily emptied as people went to bed.
Crookshanks and Evie both joined the three of them at their table. Evie sat in Lucy's lap, and Crookshanks curled up on an empty chair.
Eventually, the common room was empty except for the three of them and Fred and George, who were sitting at the same table as earlier and whispering to each other. They would occasionally look around the room to make sure they weren't being spied on. After George glanced up and saw Harry looking at them, they decided to go up to bed, saying good night to the other three.
Harry and Ron were nearly finished when the portrait hole opened, and Hermione climbed into the common room, carrying a box and a sheet of parchment in her hands.
"Hello," she greeted them, joining them at the table and setting the box down. "I've just finished!"
"So have I!" Ron stated, putting his homework down and looking proud.
Hermione sat down on the same seat as Crookshanks and looked over Ron's parchment. "Not going to have a very good month, are you?" she asked as Crookshanks got up and climbed into her lap.
"Ah, well… at least I'm forewarned," Ron replied, stretching his arms over his head.
"You seem to be drowning twice," Hermione pointed out dryly.
"Oh, am I?" Ron said, looking over his work. "I'd better change one of them to getting trampled by a raging hippogriff."
"Don't you think it's a bit obvious you've made these up?" Hermione asked.
"How dare you!" Ron exclaimed, pretending to be upset. "We've been working like house-elves in here!" Hermione gave him a look, and he hurried to add, "It's just an expression."
"And—done," Harry said, finishing his last few words and putting his quill down. "What's in the box?" he asked Hermione.
"Funny you should ask," Hermione said. She took the lid off the box and pushed it across the table, so the others could look inside it. There were about fifty multicolored pin buttons with the same letters written on them: S.P.E.W.
"Spew?" Harry asked. He picked up one of the buttons to look more closely at it. "What's this about?"
"Not spew," Hermione said. "It's S-P-E-W; stands for the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare."
"Never heard of it," Lucy and Ron said at the same time.
"Well, of course you haven't," Hermione said. "I've only just started it."
"Yeah?" Ron asked. "How many members have you got?"
"Well—if you three join—four," Hermione replied.
"Do you really think we want to walk around wearing badges saying spew?" Ron asked, frowning.
"S-P-E-W!" Hermione corrected. "I was going to put Stop the Outrageous Abuse of Our Fellow Magical Creatures and Campaign for a Change in Their Legal Status—but it wouldn't fit. So that's the heading of our manifesto." She showed them the parchment she was holding in her hand. "I've been researching it thoroughly in the library. Elf enslavement goes back centuries. I can't believe no one's done anything about it before now."
"Hermione—open your ears," Ron said. "They. Like. It. They like being enslaved!"
"Our short term aims," Hermione continued, raising the volume of her voice, "are to secure house-elves fair wages and working conditions. Our long-term aims include changing the law about non-wand use and trying to get an elf into the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, because they're shockingly underrepresented."
"How do we do all this?" Harry asked warily.
"We start by recruiting members," Hermione explained, smiling. "I thought two Sickles to join—that buys a badge—and the proceeds can fund our leaflet campaign. You're treasurer, Ron—I've got you a collecting tin upstairs—and Harry, you're secretary, so you might want to write down everything I'm saying now, as a record of our first meeting."
Lucy, Harry, and Ron stared at Hermione, not quite sure what to say, but after a few moments, they heard a tapping on the window.
"Hedwig!" Harry exclaimed, seeing his snowy owl sitting on the window sill. He jumped up and vaulted across the room to open the window and let Hedwig into the common room.
Hedwig flew inside and landed on their table.
"About time!" Harry said, grinning as Hedwig held her leg out to him.
"She's got an answer!" Ron said, sitting up higher in his seat.
Harry hurried to untie the letter from his owl and sat back down in his chair. Hedwig hopped onto his leg, hooting cheerfully.
"What does it say?" Hermione asked, and Harry began to read out loud.
Harry—
I'm flying north immediately. This news about your scar is the latest in a series of strange rumors that have reached me here. If it hurts again, go straight to Dumbledore—they're saying he's got Mad-Eye out of retirement, which means he's reading the signs, even if no one else is.
I'll be in touch soon. My best to Lucy, Ron, and Hermione. Keep your eyes open, Harry.
Sirius
"He's flying north?" Hermione asked. "He's coming back?"
"Dumbledore's reading what signs?" Ron said. "Harry—what's up?"
Harry had hit himself in the forehead, looking upset and jostling Hedwig, who flew off his knee. "Damn it! I shouldn't've told him!" Harry said.
"What are you on about?" Ron asked.
"It's made him think he's got to come back!" Harry answered, hitting the tabletop with his fist. "Coming back because he thinks I'm in trouble! There's nothing wrong with me! And I haven't got anything for you," he snapped at Hedwig. "You'll have to go up to the Owlery if you want food."
"Harry," Lucy scolded as Hedwig hooted angrily and took off out the window.
Hermione also said, "Harry—"
"I'm going to bed," Harry cut her off. "See you in the morning." He packed up his Divination homework and stomped up the boys' staircase.
"What in the bloody hell was that all about?" Ron asked, staring after his friend.
"He just doesn't want Sirius getting caught," Lucy said. "If anything happens, Harry's going to think it's his fault. He's good at thinking things are his fault—"
"I suppose I should go up and make sure he's okay," Ron said. He slowly gathered up his Divination homework and left the common room, as well.
Lucy turned to Hermione.
"Should we go up to bed, then?" Hermione asked.
"I suppose. Here," Lucy said, reaching into her bag and pulling out two Sickles. "Give me one of those buttons, would you?"
"Buttons?" Hermione asked blankly.
"Badges—whatever you call them," Lucy said, smirking.
Hermione stared at her for a moment before grinning and holding out the box. "Choose your own color," she said.
Lucy picked out a bright orange badge for herself. "This is going on my backpack," she said, pinning it immediately to her bag.
When she looked back at Hermione, she saw her friend was beaming.
~LJ:D~
A/N: Lucy's reaction to finding out about the Killing Curse was important. She always knew that her parents were dead, but she had no idea how they'd died. I don't think she'd even really thought about the how too much.
Fred fancying Angelina is something that I expanded on in these stories. In the books, Fred obviously asks her to the Yule Ball, but it's never really stated if they go as friends or as more. So I've taken the creative liberty to say yes, they have more than friendly feelings for each other.
