Chapter Eleven:

Elizabeth wasn't sure what to expect when the Hufflepuffs went into Defense Against the Dark Arts the next morning. After seeing what Moody had done to Malfoy the day before, Elizabeth had a feeling it was going to be completely different than the classes she'd had before.

Everyone was unnaturally quiet as they took their seats, glancing around at each other as they settled in at their desks and got their books out. Elizabeth fidgeted a little, glancing between Susan and Hannah on either side of her.

As the bell rang to start the class, Moody came into the classroom, limping as usual.

"You won't be needing your books," he said as he reached the desk and turned around, picking up a piece of parchment.

Elizabeth glanced at her friends before putting away her text book as Moody started the class by reading off a list of students, calling for attendance. Elizabeth felt a little awkward about it, as by fourth year teachers didn't need to use a list to get the names of students. However, Moody was a new teacher. Still, Elizabeth was uncomfortable as Moody's magical eye fell on her when he called her name.

"All right," Moody said once he was done calling attendance, "Your previous Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher has left me a letter explaining the various creatures you've been studying. However, I have noticed that you have done nothing in how to deal with curses."

Hannah fidgeted nervously next to Elizabeth. She glanced to her friend and tried to give Hannah a reassuring look, but she was just as nervous.

"Now, I'm here to teach you how to deal with curses," Moody said, "We have a lot to deal with and only a year to cover it. So, let's begin. Curses. I'm only supposed to teach you about the countercurses, ways to protect yourselves. Illegal Dark curses are meant to wait until your sixth year, but Professor Dumbledore thinks you'll be able to handle it. The sooner you know about these curses, the stronger you'll be. After all, just because you're fourteen doesn't mean you'll be safe from a wizard who means harm. They don't care how old you are. They're not going to tell you what they're about to do. You need to be prepared. You need to be alert."

Elizabeth tensed a little. Moody was really going to be teaching them about curses this year? Actually...showing them the curses? How was he going to manage that? A lot of the curses were illegal.

"There are three curses that are punished more heavily than any others," Moody went on, looking around the room, "Does anyone want to make a guess as to one of them?"

A few students raised their hands slowly. Elizabeth was one of them.

"Miss Martin?" Moody looked over at her and Elizabeth took a deep breath.

"The...The torture curse..." she managed, "Cruciatus."

"Nasty curse, that one," Moody said, moving to his desk and picking up a jar with a spider in it, "Of course, this will need to be a bit bigger to really demonstrate it..."

Elizabeth froze. He was really about to use the Cruciatus Curse on a living creature? In front of all of them?

Moody was. He used a quick spell to make the spider grow larger, then kept his wand aimed at it and muttered, "Crucio."

The spider began to twitch and sway, rolling onto its back, its legs curled up on itself. Elizabeth found herself unable to look away, no matter how badly she wanted to. She'd heard her mother talk about patients in St. Mungo's who had been tortured this way...She even knew Neville Longbottom's parents were permanent residents—she'd known since she first met Neville during one of his visits when they were seven.

Moody gave his wand a small jerk and the spider stopped moving. He swept it back into the jar before turning back to the class.

"Torture comes in many forms," he said, "This little curse was a favorite among Death Eaters. So, anyone want to give me another?"

Much fewer hands rose into the air this time.

"Rivers?" Moody asked, looking to Oliver.

"The...The Imperius Curse," he whispered.

"Yes, that one," Moody said, "That one gave the Ministry a lot of trouble."

Moody pulled out a second spider. The classroom was incredibly silent now, everyone staring at the spider in Moody's hand.

"Imperio."

In an instant, the spider began to dance along Moody's hand before jumping over to his desk and began doing odd, eight-legged cartwheels. It might have been an amusing sight—if it weren't for the fact they'd just watch the previous spider being tortured.

"Control," Moody said, making the spider move to the edge of the desk and titer on the verge of throwing itself off, "During the war, there were a lot of witches and wizards who claimed they'd been under this curse when they were in Voldemort's command." (there were several winces over the name—Elizabeth included) "The Ministry had a devil of a time sorting out the liars from those who were actually Imperiused. Now, this curse can be fought and you will be learning how in this class. I don't expect all of you to succeed. It takes a lot of strength of mind to fight off the Imperius Curse. It takes constant vigilance."

Moody grabbed the jar and guided the spider back into it before turning back to the class.

"There's one more," he said, "The last Unforgivable Curse. Does anyone know what it is?"

A few people fidgeted in their chairs, but no one raised their hands. Not even Ernie, who was nearly as studious as Hermione was.

"Well, I'll tell you," Moody said, "The last one of the three is the Killing Curse."

Susan sucked in her breath next to Elizabeth and Hannah was fidgeting more. Elizabeth twitched a little, her eyes locked on their teacher. Moody reached into a third jar, pulling out a final spider and putting it on his desk before pointing his wand at it.

"Avada Kedavra!"

A green light shot from Moody's wand and, in an instant, the spider was dead. Elizabeth swallowed hard, looking away. Hannah's hands were clasped over her mouth in horror. Susan's face had gone pale. Ernie looked sick nearby, and Rodger was gripping his hands tightly.

"There's no countercurse to this one," Moody said, looking over the class, "In known history, only one person has survived it. I'm sure you all know who he is."

Elizabeth knew. Harry Potter was her best friend, after all. He somehow survived the curse when he was only an infant.

"The only way to avoid this curse is to not let yourself get in a situation where it can be used," Moody said, "CONSTANT VIGILANCE."

Elizabeth let out a squeak as she jumped. The entire class jumped as well, but none of them had made a noise.

"Now, these three curses are known as the Unforgivable Curses," Moody went on, moving to the blackboard and starting to write, "Any of these used against another human lands you in Azkaban for life. This is what you will all be up against. Get out your quills and copy all this down."

The only sound that echoed around the classroom was quills on parchment as everyone wrote down notes on the curses. Elizabeth was relieved when the bell rang and the Hufflepuffs were released for lunch.

The rest of the Hufflepuffs were chatting instantly about the class, and how Moody really seemed to know his work. Elizabeth, however, was still unnerved about the lesson. She broke off from the others as they reached the Great Hall and made her way to the Gryffindor table, where Ron and Harry were sitting alone.

"Where's Hermione?" she asked as she sat down.

"Library," Ron said, "I don't know what she's up to, but she spends every second outside of class there now."

"How was Defense Against the Dark Arts?" Harry asked, "Didn't you just come from that class?"

"It was...trying," Elizabeth said with a sigh, "Professor Moody...I'm not sure what he's thinking, but...He showed us the Unforgivable Curses."

Harry looked confused, but Ron's eyes had gone huge.

"He showed them to you?" he echoed in disbelief, "You mean he just talked to you about them?"

"No, he showed us," Elizabeth said, "He had these spiders, and he demonstrated all three on them. Imperius, Cruciatus, and the Killing Curse."

"How are these curses unforgivable?" Harry asked, "I mean, I can guess on the Killing Curse, but the other two?"

"Imperius Curse gives you complete control over another person," Elizabeth said softly, "You lose all sense of who you are. You'll do anything the person says...You'd jump off a building, set yourself on fire, kill your best friend..."

The Cruciatus Curse isn't much better," Ron said, "It's a torture curse. Leaves you in pain, but never leaves a mark..."

"And the Killing Curse..." Elizabeth sighed. "Well, that's self-explanatory. It..." Elizabeth glanced up at Harry. "It's what You-Know-Who tried to use on you."

Harry fell silent, his gaze going down to his half-eaten lunch. Elizabeth found herself partly wishing she hadn't told Harry, but at the same time, she hated the idea of him going into Defense Against the Dark Arts without warning of what was coming.

"Wouldn't Moody and Dumbledore be in trouble with the Ministry for that?" Harry finally asked, "I mean, the curses are illegal, right?"

"Dumbledore's always done things his way, hasn't he?" Ron replied with a shrug, "And Moody's been getting in trouble for years, I reckon. Attacks first and asks questions later—look at his dustbins."

"His dustbins?" Elizabeth asked, confused.

"The day we set out for the train," Ron said, "When Dad was called into the Ministry? Apparently it was to help Professor Moody. He'd charmed his dustbins to attack some intruder he thought was trying to break into his house."

"I always heard he was overly paranoid," Elizabeth said, "But I guess you can't deny he knows what he's talking about..."

"We don't have him until Thursday afternoon," Ron sighed, then looked at Harry, "We should get going. We have Potions."

"And I have Divination," Elizabeth said, finishing off her lunch, "See you after dinner."

With a goodbye to her friends, Elizabeth turned and headed off for her next class.

xxxxx

Over the next few days, Elizabeth quickly fell into a routine she found all too familiar at Hogwarts. Classes were spent with the Hufflepuffs, as were most of her meals. Breaks and after classes were spent with Harry and Ron—as Hermione always disappeared to the library. When Thursday came, Elizabeth waited outside the door to the Great Hall for her friends as usual. They all had Divination homework to do and planned to work on it together in the library.

"You had Defense Against the Dark Arts today, right?" Elizabeth asked in a worried tone.

"Yeah, I'm okay, Elizabeth," Harry said simply. Elizabeth doubted it, but didn't want to say anything. After all, how could anyone be okay seeing the curse that made him an orphan? The curse that should have killed him as well?

They walked in silence to the library and went up to one of their favorite places on one of the overhang areas, dodging books sorting themselves as usual. Elizabeth had no idea where Hermione was, but she figured her friend was somewhere between shelves, working on whatever project she had going.

"So, Divination homework," Elizabeth said, sitting at the table and pulling out her copy of Unfogging the Future. She quickly went to the right page and pulled out her parchment as she got to work, starting to research what she needed for her star chart and how it was supposed to affect her within the next month.

While Elizabeth was making progress with hers, Harry and Ron just looked confused. They kept scrapping parchment and mumbling under their breaths as they worked.

"Divination isn't as hard as you two keep making it out to be," Elizabeth said.

Harry's response was to just stare at Elizabeth as if she had suddenly turned into a troll.

"There you three are!"

Elizabeth looked up to see Hermione coming over, carrying a box with her. She quickly sat down just as Elizabeth finished up her assignment and put it away.

"I've finally finished!" Hermione said excitedly.

"With what?" Harry asked, "What's in that box?"

"Here, see for yourself."

Hermione pushed the box forward, lifting the lid. Dozens of badges of various colors were inside. Elizabeth reached in and picked up one, seeing it was labeled with four letters: S.P.E.W.

"Spew?" she asked curiously.

"Not spew," Hermione rolled her eyes, "It's S-P-E-W. Stands for the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare."

"Never heard of it," Ron said, picking up a badge.

"Well, of course you haven't I've only just started it."

"Yeah? And how many members have you got?"

"Well, if you three join—four."

Elizabeth sighed, putting down the badge.

"Hermione, I'm not sure about this," she said, "I mean, house elves are really happy with the way things are."

Hermione glared at Elizabeth.

"Only because no one's bothered to show them differently," she said, "We'll change that. Our short-term aims 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."

"House elves don't need wands, Hermione," Elizabeth said, "They have their own magic."

"They should still be allowed to carry them!" Hermione hissed.

Elizabeth was about to argue more, but she heard a tapping noise on the window behind her and she looked up to see a familiar snowy owl sitting on the window seal.

"Hedwig!" Harry whispered, looking around to make sure Madam Pince wasn't around before opening the window up enough to get the letter, "Go on back to the Owlery. I don't have anything here. It's the library."

Hedwig looked offended, but flew off. Harry shut the window and settled back, holding a small bit of parchment.

"Sirius wrote back!" Elizabeth said excitedly, leaning forward, "What's it say?"

"Hold on," Harry unrolled the parchment quickly and began to read, "'I'm flying north immediately. The 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 Ron, Elizabeth, and Hermione. Keep your eyes open, Harry.'"

Elizabeth's eyes widened a bit and she felt her chest tighten.

"What's he thinking?" she asked, "He can't come back!"

"What'd he mean about Dumbledore reading the signs?" Ron asked, "What signs?"

"I shouldn't've told him," Harry hissed, "It's made him think he's got to come back! Coming back, because he thinks I'm in trouble! And there's nothing wrong with me!"

"Sirius has avoided the Ministry this long," Elizabeth said softly, but Harry pushed himself to his feet, gathering his things.

"I'm going to bed," he said simply, "See you in the morning."

With that, Harry turned and headed off across the library, leaving Elizabeth, Hermione, and Ron sitting alone and staring after him.