A Girl Named Hermione Granger: Year Four
Chapter Eleven: Curses all around
Disclaimer: I wish
The first day, it seemed, would forever be cursed as long as Hermione tried to have both sets of friends. And, unfortunately, this time she could only blame Draco for the encounter.
The blonde boy was, and had always been, a little more jealous of Harry's unbidden fame than most other students. And with the announcement the night before about the Tri-Wizard tournament, his jealousy had peaked.
This was the reason Hermione found herself standing in the middle of the two boys, each with their wands raised, trying to play peacekeeper.
"Bet you just can't wait to show us all up again, eh Potter?" Draco sneered, Crabbe and Goyle flanking him and simultaneously throwing half-apologetic glances at Hermione.
"Shut up Malfoy, I never –" Harry's retort was cut off with a snide bark of laughter, "That's rubbish, Potter. Every damned year, you swoop down and steal glory from the people who actually deserve it."
Ron was standing less than a foot behind Harry, glaring daggers at the Slytherin's in the shade of the tree; alternately throwing dirty looks towards Hermione for standing between them with her own wand gripped loosely. "Harry, c'mon, he's not worth acknowledging."
The air grew tense, and for a moment, Hermione was actually worried that her presence wouldn't be enough to stop a duel between the two boys. She shuddered to imagine just what this confrontation would look like if Harry and Ron were aware of her relationship with Draco – no doubt there would already have been curses flying about.
"'Mione, why do you even hang out with these two losers?" Draco's slate coloured eyes narrowed on her, and the brunette groaned under her breath in exasperation. "I'm a Gryffindor, they're my friends, and then there is the fact of my secret." She hissed the last few words under her breath to be sure that no one standing much further away than a few feet could have possibly heard her.
The reply that she received for her effort was a derisive snort as Draco crossed his arms over his chest. "It's hardly secret anymore; everyone knows – at least everyone who wasn't supposed to."
Hermione opened her mouth the reply, but was cut off by Ron's snarl, "Well we have you Slytherin's to thank for that, don't we? If it weren't for you lot, no one would know."
"Ronald!" Hermione threw her arms down and turned to glare sharply at the red head, "Don't you blame it on them – the fault of it being made known lies with a Gryffindor, in case you've forgotten."
She knew he hadn't necessarily forgotten, so much as pushed the fact to the back of his mind, as Harry had done.
She received matching dirty looks from the two Gryffindor boys for her retort, "Wouldn't have been, if daddy-dearest hadn't shown up. In fact, a lot of things would have gone much better if the slime ball hadn't made an appearance." Ron goaded triumphantly, while Harry nodded almost viciously in agreement. "That's right," Harry huffed, "If Snape hadn't shown up, Pettigrew wouldn't have gotten away, and Sirius' name would have been cleared!"
At this point, Draco found himself a little lost in the direction that the conversation had taken. He'd gleaned very little information about what had actually happened in the Shrieking shack last June, and up until this moment, he had assumed the other boys to have been placing the blame on his conversation with his uncle just before summer that had left most of the Slytherin first years to be privy to the secret. Apparently he was wrong – but that was unimportant now.
It was quite easy to see that Hermione was quickly becoming distressed by the conversational topic, and not just because the babbling buffoons were near shouting her secret to the entire courtyard. It was time for him to step up and ease some of the strain off her before his girlfriend (calling her that in his mind left him feeling completely giddy,) decided to duel the idiots herself – she would actually manage to do some serious damage if she was allowed to get carried away.
"Oi, Potty and Weasel, I believe we were in the middle of something – did you decide to pick on the girl so you might win, because I think you'll lose pretty damn –" Draco leapt back as Harry and Ron tried push their way past Hermione to get at him, and he raised his wand quickly, "Shut up Malfoy!" Harry hissed, Hermione's arm wrapped firmly around his middle, blocking him from moving any further forward.
"Please can we just go inside?" Hermione pleaded, using all the strength she had to force Harry and Ron back until they were almost a foot in front of her, before she turned to give her blonde would-be-boyfriend a look that clearly stated she was not amused by his taunting.
"Fine, it stinks out here anyway." Ron grunted, as he and Harry turned on their heels and made to head back into the castle, leaving a relieve Hermione to gather her wits. "You just couldn't resist, could you?" Hermione moaned, turning to face Draco. She gaped as she realized he had raised his wand, poised to throw a curse at Harry's retreating back, but before she could anything, he was replaced with a small, squirming ferret.
"What the!" She squeaked as the ferret flew into the air, and a gruff, angry voice growled from behind her. "Try an' attack someone who's got his back turned, eh boy?" Wide, dark eyes turned to see Professor Moody with his wand raised and his gnarled face twisted with rage – and an almost sick glee at having a student at his mercy.
"Dishonorable brat! How'd you like it, eh?" The bouncing, terrified, albino ferret emitted a series of squeaks and Hermione gaped in horror at the gleeful look on the Professors face.
The ferret was tossed in the air, flipped, and twirled and tossed at Crabbe, who fumbled to catch Draco before he was whisked away again, like a puppet on invisible strings. The terrified squeaking never stopped.
"Stop it! Stop it, right now! Professor!" Hermione grabbed hold of Moody's sleeve and tugged as hard as she could, trying to break his concentration; but she was awarded only a sneer, and then ignored. It was with no small amount of relief that the distraught girl saw Professor McGonagall approaching at a light jog, looking aghast. "Professor Moody, what are you doing?"
Moody turned his head slightly and smirked, "Teaching," her eyes fell on the poor ferret, still twisting madly in the air, and her jaw dropped open slightly, "Is that – is that a student?"
Sensing his fun was over, Moody allowed the ferret to hit the grass, where it hurriedly wove its way behind Hermione to hide. "I caught him trying to curse Potter when his back was turned." Minerva spun around and glared at the ex-auror vehemently, "regardless, I'm sure Professor Dumbledore has informed you that we never, never use transfiguration to punish students!" She flicked her wand at the shaking ferret, and within a matter of seconds, Draco was standing behind Hermione, in complete disarray.
"He might have said somethin' about that. But the boy won't be making that mistake again, now will he?"
Hermione tuned out the rest of the exchange between the adults as McGonagall and Moody disappeared inside the castle, and turned to face the blonde still hiding behind her. He was trying to pretend like he was not shaken by what had just happened, but it was clear he was failing.
"What the bloody hell is wrong with you!?" She growled, prodding him hard in the chest, forcing him to stumble back until he collided with Crabbe and Goyle. "Raising your wand against someone who's turned his back? Is that really how Slytherin's act? What dishonour!" She jabbed his chest again and he swallowed nervously at the rage burning in her eyes.
"I – I wasn't actually going to do it!" He forced the stutter out of his voice, although he had to admit, Hermione was almost as frightening – if not more – than her father when she lost her temper. "And anyway, I just got turned into a bloody ferret! I could have broken something!" He swept his eyes down over his body as he spoke, checking that he was indeed fine. "A little sympathy for that would be nice, from my –" Hermione quickly slapped her hand over Draco's mouth before he could utter the next word.
"I wouldn't say such things, if I were you." She hissed under her breath, letting her eyes flick over to where Harry and Ron were standing, mouths agape, and nearly bursting with laughter. Draco followed her gaze and scowled as he pulled her hand from his face. "Oh, I see. Whatever; I have better things to do than sully my hands with you Gryffindor's any longer."
With a snap of his fingers, Draco left the courtyard with Crabbe and Goyle on his heel, each looking back at Hermione briefly in confusion, before disappearing inside the castle.
Hermione couldn't help feeling despondent by Thursday. Her week had been uneventful, aside from Potions; wherein poor Neville had melted another cauldron (his sixth in three years,) and her father had handed out a rather nasty detention for it. Of course, this was just cause for rumors to fly about the school, defending Neville by saying Snape was on edge because of the ex-auror now breathing down his neck.
She knew it wasn't exactly secret that her father had once been a death eater, but she wished the boys would stop helping the spread of the rumors. Her father was in a foul mood because Julie was still missing, and every day added to her absence was another percentage added to the likeliness that she was dead. With optimism, exceeding her usual pretence, Hermione willed herself to believe that Moody's presence in the school was neither here nor there to her father – he was completely reformed after all, and hadn't done anything illegal in years.
She was also used to having a significant amount more of homework, after her adventure the year before; Harry and Ron were, of course, already behind on their essays. She supposed she could occupy her time by writing up essays like she imagined they would, and then burning them in the common room fireplace. Or maybe she'd have to join a club. She didn't want the boys to use her for homework this year, after all.
"I'm looking forward to Moody's class. Fred and George said he was absolutely brilliant." Ron had gushed excitedly, nearly knocking over his goblet of orange juice this morning at breakfast. He had been going on and on about their new Professor since the first day, reliving the moment he said completed his total respect for the man – aka, when he turned Malfoy into a ferret.
Harry, of course, was all too eager to share in the moments as they came; although Hermione tried her best to keep as far out of things as possible. She was a bit more skeptical about the man however. Something seemed off about him, in a different manor than his age and previous career could cause. He had been positively gleeful as he'd bounced Malfoy the Ferret in the air.
Hermione paused in front of the door to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom as Harry and Ron rushed in to take seats near the front – this was the only class where they would do so. So far, this classroom and whichever teacher resided within, had cause her little more than trouble. Quirrell had wanted to use her against her father, Lockhart had – well, he had been creepy and overly sweet to her; and just last year, Lupin had caused a catastrophe, and snooped around her for information until her head spun. Who knew what sort of games Moody would play.
With a calming breath, she stepped through the door and sat at the desk next to Harry and Ron. By the time class was due to start, Neville had taken the seat next to hers, and the entire class was muttering amongst themselves while they waited for their Professor to show up.
It was a full five minutes past the start time when the door creaked open and Professor Moody hobbled inside with a dirty old jar in his arms. The jar contained three moderately sized spiders, which were making lazy attempts at escaping, only to be blocked by a rusted lid with several small holes jabbed into it.
As soon as Moody had set the jar down on his ornate desk at the front of the class, Hermione could see Ron shift his chair back ever so slightly, and Harry's fingers twitched before he placed his hands in his lap beneath the desk – neither boy had really recovered from meeting Aragog in their second year. She personally thought that they were being kind of pathetic over the matter, Acromantula were amazing creatures.
"You can put those books away, you won't be needing them." Moody barked, and most of the class put their books away looking quite pleased with the turn of events – Hermione, though, was a little nervous about the idea of the class being run without the book. She wasn't particularly pleased, either, when he went on to tell them that they were all very behind in their studies.
"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 the Dark –" "You mean, you aren't staying?" Ron sounded almost heart-broken at the thought of losing his idol as a teacher at the end of the year. Moody's electric blue eye swivelled around and locked on Ron for a moment before a slow smile spread on his gnarled face. "You'll be Arthur Weasley's son, eh?" Moody's eyes flashed with a strange gleam that Hermione didn't quite like, as he appraised the red haired boy in the front row. "Your father got me out of a spot of trouble the other day. Yeah, I'm just staying one year. Special favour to Dumbledore…one year, then back to my quiet retirement." The way he emphasized 'quiet retirement' set off alarm bells in Hermione's mind. She knew the life of an auror was rough, but she didn't think too many aurors enjoyed the quiet life.
Moody gave a harsh, rumbling laugh and slapped his hand together, eyes glinting as he addressed the class once more, "So, straight into curses. They come in many varieties, and according to the Ministry, I'm supposed to teach you the counters, only." A slight frown marred his face, but it was quickly replaced with an almost sinister looking smirk. "I'm not supposed to show you what illegal dark magic looks like for two more years, but you need to know. Dumbledore has a higher opinion of your nerves, he reckons you lot can cope with the sight. It's my belief that the sooner you know what you're up against, the better – how do you defend yourself from something you've never known? There is no dark wizard kind enough to explain what horrible curse he's about to direct at you, if you aren't prepared, you will die."
The lesson was paused for a moment, as Moody reprimanded Lavender and Parvati, his magical eye having caught their passing of horoscopes under their desk.
"So, who can tell me which curses are most heavily punished under wizarding law?"
Hermione, although not wanting to invite his creepy eye upon herself, couldn't refuse the chance to answer the question. She was fairly surprised to see how many others had raised their hands as well, especially when she saw Ron's hand fly up almost faster than her own.
Moody pointed to the red head, "You first."
Ron cleared his throat, "My dad told me one – the Imperius curse, I think that's what it was." He was awarded with a nod from the ex-auror, "Ah yes, your dad would know about that one. Gave the Ministry a lot of trouble back in the day."
Moody had the lid off the jar, and a spider in his had before any of the class had caught onto his movement. He raised his palm high enough for the whole class to see the large black spider, and pointed his wand at it before it could run away, "Imperio."
The spider leapt into action as soon as the word was out of his mouth; it did swung like a pendulum in the air, tumbling into several backflips, and finally fell to desk where it did a continuous circle of cartwheels.
The students in the class laughed at the display, even Ron, although he did cringe once or twice when the spider got slightly closer to him. Hermione, too, couldn't help herself. It wasn't every day you saw a spider dance, even in the wizarding world.
"Think it's funny, do you?" Moody was the only one not laughing, as the spider continued, "You'd like it then, if I did it to you?"
The laughter died away almost instantly as the class was reminded what they were learning.
"Total control," It was whispered, with a hint of reverence. "I could make it do anything. Could make it take its own life, or the life of another." The spider curled into a ball and began rocking back and forth on the desk. "Lots of witches and wizards claimed to have been under the Impirius when the dark lord fell. It was quite a job for the Ministry, sorting the liars out from the victims."
"It can be fought, and I'll be teaching you lot how – it takes real strength of character, and CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" He barked the last two words so loud, that half the students in the class nearly fell off their chairs in surprise.
"Another curse – who knows the next one?" Moody seemed suitably pleased with himself as he placed the spider back into the jar and scooped out a new one. Neville raised his hand shakily, and stuttered, "T-the Cruciatus curse." Moody turned to face him fully, both eyes locked on to him, "Your name's Longbottom?" Neville nodded, but no further inquiry was made by the Professor.
"This needs to be a bit bigger for you to fully grasp the Cruciatus curse. Engorgio." The spider swelled up in size and was placed on the desk as its predecessor had been. He kept his wand fixed on the spider as the class craned their necks to get a clearer view. "Crucio."
The spider let out what could only ever be considered a high pitched scream of pure, immeasurable agony and suffering as it fell flat and thrashed in pain.
Hermione looked away, unable to watch the poor arachnid's suffering, and was shocked to find that Neville was shaking so hard, and had gone so pale, he was only in his chair because he was gripping the top of the desk with bone-white fingers. She could tell the practical use of the curse was the source of his distress, however a quick look to the teacher showed he had not yet noticed Neville's state. "Stop it!" She shouted suddenly, catching even herself by surprise – she hadn't meant to raise her voice – "Can't you see you're upsetting him!"
Moody instantly stopped the demonstration when he caught sight of Neville's pale face. "Right. That's the second curse, then. Nasty stuff; you don't need thumb screws or knives to torture someone if you know the Cruciatus. Anyone know the third?" The spider was replaced in the jar, and Hermione hesitantly raised her hand, the urge to answer at least one question out weighing her fear of seeing this third curse in action. "Yes, you, Granger, was it?"
"Avada Kedavra," she whispered, causing several of her classmates to glance nervously in her direction. She was quite disturbed at the tiny smile that settled on Moody's lips as he pulled out the last spider. "Yes, the last, and the worst. Avada Kadavra, the killing curse." The spider tried to frantically scuttle across the desk to freedom, but it had only made it a few inches before Moody had raised his wand once more. "Avada Kedavra." There was a flash of blinding green light, and the spider rolled onto its back, unmistakably dead, although there wasn't a single mark on its body.
"There's no counter for this curse, and there's only ever been one person to survive it." All eyes turned to Harry, who blushed faintly when he realized that he was now the center of attention. "It takes a powerful bit of dark magic to use that curse in particular."
End chapter eleven!
This chapter is one I have been stuck on for quite a long time. I knew I needed to include Moody's first class, but I wanted to try and avoid it at the same time. Personally, the original chapter of this class in the book, is one of my favourites. It's one of those eye-opener chapters, up until this point you know there's dark magic, and you know it can kill, but you don't have an actually idea of what the spells are, or what they do. Then, this chapter comes along and knocks you for a loop, giving you something real to fear. So I couldn't cut the whole thing out.
I'm certain the next chapter will come out much faster, because it skips ahead a bit. I'm afraid there's going to be some fat cut from the book where my story is concerned, because I'm already at the length of each of the three stories prior, and they've only just gotten to the school.
Around Christmas (roughly) I will post another 'gift chapter', potentially about Julie, but maybe it'll just be some Dramione fluff.
Also, I may begin posting this series on archiveofourown . org once I finish the fourth. I noticed a few authors have jumped ship because of the 'no mature scenes' part of the policy on which I agree with the authors, personally. Some of the stories I've seen get taken down had ample warning on content, and the people who complained had obviously ignored the warnings. But that's irrelivent here. This story likely won't have any heavy scenes...And if I decide it needs one or two, they'll be posted over on the other site. But that's getting ahead of myself. My characters are only 14/15 at the moment. I wasn't planning on implementing much more until year six, hopefully. Maybe the end of year five. Proboably not though.
Anyway, toodles for now. Going to outline the next chapter.
