Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter 11

"How was your first lesson with Moody?" George asked me at dinner that night. "Isn't he a genius?"

"He's messed up in the head," I said with a look of disgust. "He shouldn't have performed those spells in class."

"You're right," he nodded. "But the man does have a point - we have to be prepared for them."

"You weren't there..." I muttered.

"But-"

"It's not just about the lesson," I said. "It's about how it affects people!"

"That's the whole point!" he said. "If it frightens you, you won't forget it easily."

"It didn't frighten me," I retorted. "It's not just as simple as him killing a spider! Don't you realize that the very spell that you saw in class was used to kill my parents? Every time I see a flash of green light, I can hear my parents screaming for mercy - it's not exactly something that brightens my day."

George's eyes widened and he immediately began to back peddle.

"No - oh my gosh, I didn't mean to-" he started quickly saying.

"George - it's fine!" I laughed (his face expression was hilarious). "It's not really that that was bothering me the most anyway."

"What was?"

"It was Neville really," I said. "Moody really freaked him out with those spells. If you would have seen his face...you would have understood."

After lunch was over, we all decided to head up to the common room. The whole way there, Ron, Harry, and I were talking about the consequences that Moody and Dumbledore would face if the Ministry were to find out about the class that was just held today.

"We aren't supposed to know those curses," I said. "And there is probably a really good reason for that."

"You just say that because you don't like Moody," Ron said with his eyes rolling.

"It's not that I don't like him," I said. "There's just something wrong with him - he seems like he's lost his marbles or something."

"Well everyone knows that," Ron said simply. "He's mad - that's just his thing."

"But did you see the way that he was looking at Harry and me when he mentioned that we were the only ones to survive the curse?" I tried to defend myself. "He was looking at us like we were something to eat!"

"You're crazy," Ron laughed. "You always think too much into things."

"Better than thinking too little," I muttered.

Harry laughed, but Ron wasn't paying any attention to us because he was telling the Fat Lady the password - Bladerdash. We walked into the common room which was packed with people. It seemed as though the entire House was down in the common room and they were all talking loudly to each other about nothing in particular.

"I'm going to go get our Divination work," Harry said to Ron. "Didn't you already finish it Emily?"

"Yeah, I wrote it in History of Magic yesterday with Neville," I said. "I made up just about everything, but I made sure to mention my own death several times."

"Nice," Harry laughed. "Maybe you can help us with ours - we haven't started yet."

Harry ran off into the boys dormitories and I started walking around aimlessly.

"Emily!" someone called.

I turned to my right to see Fred, George, and Lee Jordan talking in the corner of the room. They all stopped talking when I walked over.

"Yes," I said looking at them all.

"So I heard that you were thinking about joining the Quidditch team," Lee said.

"Well, I was thinking about it," I said. "I don't really understand the rules entirely, so I'm not sure if that would be such a good idea."

"It's not difficult," George shrugged. "We could teach you this year so you'll be all ready to try out next year."

"What if I don't want to," I said.

"You can get over it," Fred said simply. "You're trying out for the team - we've already decided."

"How sweet," I said rolling my eyes.

"I love girls who play Quidditch," Lee said with a dreamy look. "It's so attractive."

"Nice to know," I laughed.

"Not that you aren't attractive now," Lee said quickly. "I mean, look at you - you're really-"

"Watch yourself Jordan," Fred said. "I think George might attack you."

"Why?" I asked. "He hasn't made a claim on me."

I glared at George for a second, but then turned when I felt a tap on my shoulder. Harry and Ron were standing there with their stuff in hand.

"See you later," I waved to Fred, George, and Lee.

We walked over to find a place to sit on the far side of the room. They laid all of their things out and started looking through everything.

"So, Harry," I said. "I suggest you mention that the planets affected you by...I don't know, just make it something about your death or something."

"That's the plan," Harry said with a smile.

"What about me?" Ron asked looking dumbfounded at his papers.

"Hmmm..." I thought. "Maybe you could get in some kind of fight and end up losing - or maybe you could just lose a bet."

"Good idea," Ron said and grabbed for a quill.

"I think that I'm going to predict someone stabbing me," Harry said. "What do you think Emily - believable or not?"

"She'll love it," I said. "Oh - maybe you could say that you were stabbed in the back by someone that you thought you could trust!"

While they started to write, I looked around the room. However, the person I was looking for was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey Harry," I said. "Where's Neville?"

"Up in the dormitories," he said looking up from his paper. "Why?"

"I was just wondering," I said. "I'm going to go talk to him."

"He's in the boy's dormitories," Ron said. "You can't go there."

"Yes I can," I said. "Girls can go into the boys dormitories whenever they choose. It's just the boys that can't go into the girls dormitories."

"Well that isn't fair," Ron said.

"I guess that girls are just more trusting," I said simply.

I stepped up from my chair and made my way up the stairs towards the fourth year's rooms for the boys. It didn't take me very long to find it. I knocked on the door, just to make sure that I wasn't going to be barging in on anyone.

"Come in," I heard from the other side.

When I walked in, I noticed that no one else was in the room other than Neville who was sitting on his bed. He had his nose buried in some book that had a large picture of a plant on the front cover.

"What is that?" I asked.

He looked up suddenly when he heard my voice and raised an eyebrow.

"What are you doing in here?" he asked. "I didn't think that-"

"Girls can go into the boys dormitories," I explained. "Just not the other way around."

"That's fair," Neville muttered sarcastically.

I walked over to a nearby windowsill and sat on the edge of it, looking out at the grounds. Then I turned back to Neville who was now placing a bookmark inside of the large book.

"So, are you all right?" I asked him.

"I'm fine," he said with a smile. "Professor Moody told me that he knew what had happened in class had really bothered me, so he gave me this book..."

"I told you that it was going to be fine," I said. "How did he know that you liked Herbology?"

"Professor Sprout told him," Neville said with a hint of pride. "She told him that I was really good in Herbology - one of the best in the year. So he gave me this book, he thought it would make me feel better."

I could tell that Neville was really proud with himself that he had a teacher bragging about his talents in class. It wasn't very often that he got any kind of praise because he didn't do all that well in any of his other classes though. It was true though, he really was the best in our year at Herbology. He even did better than Hermione, much to her dislike.

"So what is the book called?" I asked.

He held it up so I could see the binding and it read: Magical Water Plants of the Mediterranean.

"Is it any good?" I asked him.

"It's very interesting actually," Neville said happily. "There are a lot of plants in here that we've never learned about in class before. It's really amazing..."

He looked down at the book and I could tell that he wanted to get back to it. So, I told him that I would leave him to it and I left to go back and help Harry and Ron with their work.

After a long while, the common room began to clear. Next thing I knew, Hermione had arrived with a large box of things and threw them down onto the couch nearby.

"Where have you been?" I asked her. "And what's in the box?"

Harry finished up his chart and walked over to look through it.

"What's...spew?" Harry asked.

"It's S.P.E.W.," Hermione corrected.

Ron raised an eyebrow as he wrote in his last entry for his prediction chart and walked over to look into the box. From where I was standing I could see an assortment of badges that had S.P.E.W. written on each of them.

"Why do I have this strange feeling that this has something to do with house-elves?" Ron asked.

"What does it stand for?" I asked as I picked up a button.

"The Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare," Hermione recited.

"I've never heard of it," Ron said as he threw the badge back into the box.

"That's because I just created it," Hermione said simply.

I put a hand to my head and realized immediately what Hermione had been doing in the library all this time. How could I have not seen this coming? She had been looking up all different sorts of rights for elves so she would be able to fight for their rights. It should have been so obvious.

"So, will you all join?" she asked hopefully.

Harry and Ron looked skeptical and didn't really say anything at first, so I decided to speak up.

"Yes, we will join," I said.

"But-" Ron started.

"Thank you so much!" Hermione cried and ran over to give us all our badges.

After that, Hermione made sure to give us a huge lecture about everything that she had gathered about the rights of elves and what all we were going to be doing in protest for them. I think that I was the only one listening though because Ron and Harry both looked as though they had begun to think of other things as soon as she started speaking.

The only thing that brought Harry and Ron back to reality was when we heard a soft hooting coming from the window next to us. It was Hedwig with a letter.

"Sirius!" Harry said suddenly and ran to the window.

He took the letter from Hedwig and tore open the envelope immediately. I looked over his shoulder to see what he had said.

Harry and Emily -

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 shouldn't have said anything," Harry said with a frown.

"Harry-" I started.

"I'm going to bed."

He got up and walked up to his dormitory without another word.

"What's wrong?" Ron asked, completely oblivious.

"He thinks that Sirius is going to get caught," I explained knowingly. "He thinks that it's his fault because he sent him a letter about the scar."

"He had to tell someone!" Hermione exclaimed.

I shrugged my shoulders and took the letter from the side table that it was sitting on. Sirius was coming towards us - could he get caught? I thought about it for a minute and decided that Sirius was really good at hiding and had little chance of actually being caught. He was going to be fine, Harry was just worrying too much. He couldn't blame himself either, but I knew that he wasn't going to listen to anything right now.

Thanks for reading - sorry that it isn't very much and that it's kind of late. I've had a lot to do recently. Well, tell me what you think and don't forget to VOTE!