Disclaimer: I own nothing, J.K. Rowling owns everything else.
Chapter 10: The Room of Requirement
Word of the Amazing Bouncing Ferret has spread swiftly and Malfoy was often seen scowling at the snickering faces of those he passed, including several from his own house. The days were passing by swiftly and before they knew it, Thursday had arrived and it was time for their first Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
Filing into the seats in anticipation, Harry and Estella sat side by side in anticipation of the class. Turning over his shoulder, Harry joked with Ron about this being the first class he'd ever been so early for without Hermione breathing down his neck. Hermione shot him a mock-glare that only caused Ron and him to laugh even harder.
A slam in the back of the room silenced them all instantly as they craned their necks back to get a look a look at the carved features of the man whose arrival they had all so eagerly awaited. He entered swiftly as though he felt that going any slower would allow some hidden pursuant to strike him down. This air of paranoia was enhanced by his left eye rolling around of its own accord scouting out the classroom and, occasionally, the back of his head as it rolled until only the whites were visible. His gruff features and disturbingly active magical eye hushed the students into awed silence.
As he reached the front of the class he turned and addressed the class. "You've all been introduced to me this morning but allow me to reiterate. I am Professor Moody, you're Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and, as I'm told, only the second competent one you've had." As he spoke, his magical eye continued to drift about the room, as though searching for any signs of danger, stopping for a second on Harry before returning to its seemingly random, erratic movements. "Speaking with Professor Lupin gave me details on your experience with magical creatures last year; however, you have not appeared to have had any significant lessons on curses. While magical creatures are definitely an important subject, you are far more likely to be threatened by a rogue wizard than a boggart.
At this point, all textbooks flew from desks and, in Hermione's case, hands to land in a neat pile along the wall. "Textbooks will not be necessary for today's lesson," Moody explained as Hermione moved to protest, although this didn't seem to pacify her in the slightest, huffing as she sat back in her chair. "Curses are the most powerful form of negative magic in that they are inherently intended to cause harm. Jinxes and hexes can cause discomfort and pain but rarely to the extent of that of even a minor curse. There are three curses in particular that are so powerful as to be considered Unforgivable. Can anyone give the name of one such curse?"
Several hands shot into the air, eager to participate in a lecture where the teacher had already taken away the books and Moody pointed to Dean Thomas. "The Imperius Curse, sir?" he stated uncertainly.
"Right you are," Moody replied gruffly. "The Imperius curse is the least powerful and the only one that can be thrown off, which I will instruct you on shortly. This curse is used to control the victim into doing whatever task the caster wishes them to perform, but if the victim has enough willpower or magical power, he/she can throw off the curse or even reverse it upon the caster. Now does anyone know of any other Unforgivable Curses?"
A few less hands shot up this time and Moody called on Hermione for this one. "The Cruciatus Curse, a curse that –"
"Ya ya, I've heard about you Granger so I'm going to stop you right there before you try to steal my explanation." Several snickers were heard throughout the classroom, particularly from Ron, who guffawed loudly, drawing a glare form Hermione as she huffed loudly again, clearly miffed at being cut off. "Now, as Miss Granger was about to say, the Cruciatus Curse is a spell of torture. It brings unimaginable pain to the victim that is strengthened by the magical power of the user. Each person is different but most liken the pain to that of hot knives coated in salt being shoved into every pore of one's skin and twisted violently. Seconds turn to hours and minutes to days because as long as you are under that curse your body is shutting down slowly. Because of this many do not recover fully from longer exposure to the curse with the worst cases often sent into comatose states or even death."
At this last part, a small noise came from one corner, drawing Harry out of his fascination with the lecture to see Neville clenching his fists. Moody seemed to follow Harry's eyes and at the sight of Neville he swiftly moved on. "Now finally we have the most powerful of the Unforgivables, the Avada Kedavra. This curse, when cast correctly, cannot be blocked by any shield and upon contact causes instant death…" The classroom had grown eerily silent at this as many glanced over at Harry covertly, most wondering what was so special about him that made him seemingly immune to the deadliest curse known to wizardry.
"Now that being said, the curses are not unblockable," Moody continued. "Does anyone know how to properly counter the unforgivable curses?" This question threw the room into disconcertion as they began looking at one another confusedly. Moody smiled at them, an odd expression on his features that looked as though it were caused more by pain than by amusement. "I thought no –, "he began until he saw Harry's hand raise slowly in front of him. "Yes Mr. Potter?"
"The Unforgivables can be blocked by solid objects that the curses collide with as the object will absorb the magical energies of the curse." Harry said, looking proud that he had remembered some vital information from his dueling sessions with Sirius and Big Rob.
Moody looked at Harry curiously for a moment before replying. "That is correct Mr. Potter, I'm glad to see you've been taking the time to learn more conventional methods of defense rather than relying on your previous ability to mysteriously reflect the curse upon you're adversary, CONSTANT VIGILANCE! 20 points to Gryffindor." Harry reddened a little at the praise and couldn't help from smiling as his peers looked at him approvingly. After a moment more of regarding Harry curiously, he moved back on to his lecture.
"Now that is how you block the Cruciatus and Avada Kedavra curses and now I'm going to instruct you on how to defend against a landed Imperius curse." This put the students on the edge of their seats as they had never had such an exciting lesson in the past, although that wasn't saying much when they're most productive class period had been on facing boggarts. "The easiest method of doing so is to involve one's emotions in the defense of one's body, as emotions assist in triggering our deeper recesses of magical power. To utilize emotional dueling strength, one must focus on a particular emotion and draw up memories that fuel that emotion. While in an ideal world, love is the most powerful emotion, most have trouble using that emotion to assist them in throwing off the Imperius curse as it often triggers the wrong portions of one's magical power and embraces the curse rather than rejecting it. For today, I want you to think of a memory of something that angered you more than any other event in your life. If you can't think of one then making one up works fine, although that often takes more time. Create an image of this event in your mind and pretend that the voice in you hear is the source of this event. Good to go?"
After a pause, everyone nodded their heads, equipped with the memory of choice. One by one, Moody picked his way through the class and, while some held out for longer than others, none managed to keep Moody from gaining control of them and forcing them to bow. When he came to Neville, several people snickered, yet Harry looked at him intriguingly as he saw his jaw set in determination with a far off look in his eyes as he focused intently on the memory he had in mind.
Moody regarded the look in Neville's eyes for a moment before lifting is wand and shouting, "Imperio!" The curse hit Neville and for a moment his features began to relax and he began to bend forward before suddenly the look returned to his eyes and he straightened immediately. A yellow light seemed to leave Neville through pores as he threw off the spell and smiled tiredly. The class stared at him in shock before a scattered applause and hoots rose around the classroom. Moody smiled slightly as though he knew this would happen all along but the smile was gone almost as quickly as it had come and he merely moved to the next student, offhandedly awarding 20 points to Gryffindor.
Moving about the class without further surprises, Moody finally came to settle on Harry and Estella last of all. Casting the spell on Estella, the students could almost see the battle raging in her eyes as she fought the curse for a lengthy 2 minutes before a bead of sweat trickled into her eye and broke her concentration, allowing Moody to force her into submission. "Never let distractions cause you to lose focus," said Moody before turning to Harry.
Harry didn't even seem to register that it was his turn to be tested as he continuously imagined the screams of his friends as though they were being held under the Cruciatus Curse. The very thought of someone harming his friends set off a torrent of anger within Harry that seeped out in the form of his Aura. The red mist began to form around him and when Moody cast the curse at him Harry seemed to draw it together to push away the curse and send it reeling back towards Moody before he had a chance to react.
'Bow, 'Harry said in his mind. Moody obeyed his command instantly, bending until his head nearly touched his knees before Harry released the spell. Straightening, Moody looked at Harry in a mixture of shock and respect as he slowly regained control of his own movements.
"Well…" Moody began, unsure of where to begin, "that was an example of the Imperius curse being reversed upon its caster. This can be done by sheer magical power or by the strength of the emotion being used, or even a combination of both. Which one this was for Potter, I'd rather he not say. You never know who may be listening…" Harry shut his mouth quickly at this, realizing how foolish it was that he had been about to tell everyone of his talent.
"After a time, wizards and witches with enough raw magical power can learn to control their abilities so that they can effectively utilize them without the need to draw upon memories. However, emotions will always maximize the abilities of any wizard and it is you're duty to be wary of the methods with which you utilize you're emotions for any spell can be used to harm with the proper intentions. Class Dismissed."
The students poured into the hallway excitedly, chattering with one another about the incredible lesson. Harry and Estella were heading out at the back of the pack when Harry felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Moody.
"A word with you, Potter?" Moody asked, removing his hand as Harry nodded uncertainly. Closing the door behind the last students, Moody leaned against a table and studied Harry for a moment before speaking. "I don't know how much you know about you're wizard aura, kid, but you might want to be a little more careful on how you use it in the future." Harry looked at Moody in shock, surprised to see that he'd been found out so easily. "Oh don't look at me like that. You were damn near glowing and had I not put a glamor charm on you before it came out in full force the entire class might have seen it." At this, Harry looked down sheepishly, realizing how irrational he'd been.
"I don't know how much training, if any, you've had in this but I have a few books I'd like you to read on your own time that might give you some assistance," Moody said as he held out a waved his wand and 3 books flew into Harry's chest, knocking the breath out of him. "That's for making me bow," Moody said with a chuckle at Harry's indignant expression. "Let me know if they help, but for now I have another student to speak with…" Moody said as he walked towards the front of the class where Harry was surprised to see Neville sitting rigidly at his desk. Nodding farewell, Harry walked out of the class with a glimpse of Moody placing a comforting hand on Neville's shoulder.
Following lunch, Harry and Estella met in the Gryffindor common room where they split up to retrieve their Divination homework. Shuffling through his papers to find the assignment, he noticed the corner the notebook he'd received from Sirius and looked at it curiously. Carrying it down with him, he sat down next to Estella who looked over his shoulder curiously to see what he was reading.
"This sounds incredible!" Harry uttered softly as he finished reading about a few of the ways the room had been used and how it had automatically adapted to the wants and needs of the inhabitants. Forgetting entirely about their homework, the two agreed to check out the room as Ron and Hermione came in, nearly colliding with the couple as the rushed out of the common room.
"Something interesting going on?" Hermione asked curiously, seeing the notebook the two seemed so engrossed in. Harry and Estella looked up embarrassedly, realizing they'd forgotten about Ron and Hermione, before filling the two in on what they'd learned of the Room of Requirement.
"We could study in there without ever having to worry about distractions. It's even better than the library!" Hermione squeaked excitedly, drawing odd looks from the other three.
"Only you would think of studying as the best use for this room Hermione…" Ron said as the Harry and Estella broke into laughter, drawing glares from Hermione, though she couldn't help but join in as she realized how ridiculous she sounded.
"So are you two up for testing this thing out? Harry asked them unnecessarily, wanting to get back to their search.
Nodding eagerly, Ron and Hermione stepped in behind Harry as they set off towards the seventh floor. Swiftly arriving at the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy, the three huddled together to read the next step.
"So what should we wish for?" Estella asked, voicing the question they all had.
"A kitchen…" Ron said dreamily, his mouth watering at the very thought of food.
"It wouldn't matter Ron," Hermione said, rolling her eyes at his expression. "As one of the five Principal Exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration, food can't be created so you'd still have to bring whatever food you wanted to eat and cook it yourself." Ron's face fell at this though he continued looking off absently, dreaming of a room that could provide for his exceptional appetite at his every whim.
Shaking his head, Harry voiced Sirius' suggestion. "Sirius had the idea of using it as a dueling arena. That way we could practice spells whenever we want to and not have to worry about getting in trouble with teachers. We could even come up with practice dummies for when we want to practice spells that we can't try on one another." The others nodded, agreeing that this would be a great use for the room before stepping back to allow Harry space to walk. Pacing back three times while thinking of a dueling arena, Harry opened his eyes at the sound of Hermione's gasp to see a large door had appeared in the wall.
Looking about cautiously, the group entered the room to see a massive room that seemed to meet every need they would ever have for practicing spells. A wall of practice dummies ready for activation stood to the right while an obstacle course resided to the left. The most impressive piece, however, was the sunken oval section in the center where the group could duel. A large, clear magical dome surrounded the arena that would keep spells from escaping the field.
As they entered the field, they noticed scorch marks where spells had hit the walls and realized that others had used this room in the past. Remembering a side note from the notebook, Harry shouted, "Jungle!" At his command, the dome seemed to expand immensely and the ground began sprouting shrubbery. Hermione screamed as an immense tree rose from the ground next to her and Ron nearly fainted as a tarantula crawled by Harry's foot. Nevertheless, the group was greatly impressed and Harry could tell they were all just as eager as him to get started in the room.
"I have a feeling we're going to be spending a lot of time in here," Harry said, breaking the others out of their reverie, "but I think it would be better if we came back tomorrow when we have more time to test it out." The others nodded at his suggestion and left the arena as it changed back to normal.
Arriving at the common room, the group hurriedly finished their Divination and other homework before talking excitedly about the Room of Requirements. As the common room emptied and others turned in for the night, they rose tiredly, excited for the next day. Parting ways, the group headed to their respective dormitories, none noticing Neville's silent figure as he regarded them mutely before heading out of the common room alone.
A/N Yes, I know I'm lagging ass on updating but I've finally gotten settled down with college and ROTC so if I don't update then it's merely because I'm being lazy now so just send me a message and I'll get my butt up and start writing. Thanks for reading and once again, please review! See ya soon…