Chapter 19: Flash of Green
A new day had dawned over Hogwarts and students were heading towards the respective classes. The fourth-years of Gryffindor were on their way for the first lesson with Professor Moody in Defence Against the Dark Arts. They were all excited at the fact that someone with real experience as an auror teaching them and after hearing what the other students said about the class, not even a period of potions could dampen their mood. Of course, not everyone shared the same feelings.
"Father says the man's insane." Draco said as he walked with his friends. "Charming his rubbish bins to attack intruders, that should be enough proof. Sure, he caught most of the dark wizards in Azkaban, but he should be locked in there himself, for everyone else's safety."
Harry rolled his eyes. Malfoy was obviously trying make everyone not like Moody before sitting in his class just because Dumbledore had asked him personally to fill in this year. Harry knew that Draco's father hated Dumbledore and would rather have Professor Snape as headmaster of the school. But excluding his friends and a few others, some of the Slytherins didn't seem convinced and none of the Gryffindors were even listening to Malfoy. Harry then looked at Joseph, who walked beside the blonde, and wondered how he fell in love with an obnoxious git like him. He did point out that the Malfoy they were seeing was a result of him wanting to impress his father so badly that he practically emulated the older blonde. Harry didn't understand the logic of that, not once did he feel the need to act a certain way to impress somebody.
The classroom door opened and they all got in, Harry and Ron taking the seats in the front. Professor Moody walked in, introduced himself, and began talking about how the Ministry didn't want him to teach them anything dangerous and how he thought differently, saying that they couldn't protect themselves from what they don't know. For someone who's been branded as insane, his logic was pretty sound.
"Now, how many Unforgivable Curses are there?" Professor Moody asked and hands rose. "Ms. Granger?"
"Three, sir." Hermione answered.
"And why are they called that?" Professer Moody asked.
"Because they are unforgivable." Hermione answered. "Any use of a single one of them on a human will-"
"Will earn you a one-way ticket to Azkaban." Professor Moody. "Now…Weasley!"
"Yes?" Ron whimpered.
"Stand." Moody said and the ginger complied. "Give us a curse."
"Well, my dad told me about one; the Imperius Curse." Ron replied.
"Your father would know all about that one." Moody agreed, making Ron sit. "Gave the Ministry a whole lot of grief years ago. This ought to show you why."
The ex-auror moved behind his desk and opened up the container with a spider and let the spider onto his hand, before walking back to the front of the class.
"Engorgio." He casted on the spider and it grew to the size of a puppy. "Imperio."
The enlarged spider went stiff for a few seconds before jumping off of Moody's hand and onto Ron's desk and doing a tap dance. The class laughed and applauded, then Moody made spider jump onto Padma Patil's arm, making it slowly climb up. Moody assured her that it was perfectly safe, but Padma didn't look assured. Moody then made the spider jump onto Ron's head, laughing and teasing how the spider was venomous. Harry didn't think he'd see anything funnier than Ron's face at the moment, but Professor Moody proved him wrong when his electric-blue eye looked to the left side of the room.
"What are you laughing at?" He asked before making the spider jump onto Malfoy's face, making the blonde squirm while Goyle tried to swat the insect off with his book. Harry looked to the back to see his Slytherin friend trying to hide his smile behind his hand.
"What should I have her do next? Jump out the window? Drown herself?" Professor Moody asked and the spider moved to the edge of an open window, then the top of an aquarium. The classroom fell silent and Moody brought back the spider to the front. "Complete and total control over another person; that is why the Imperius curse is dangerous, and it takes a strong-willed wizard to resist it."
He looked at all of the faces in the room, checking to see if everyone understood, and nodded.
"Now, Longbottom." He called and Neville nervously stood. "Professor Sprout tells me you have an aptitude for Herbology. Now give us a curse."
"Well, there's the C-Cruciatus Curse." Neville answered and Professor Moody nodded and gestured him to come closer to the front, letting the spider down onto his desk.
"Curcio." He casted with his wand pointed at the spider.
The spider began twitching and screaming. The noise made everyone uncomfortable, but it seemed to affect Neville the most.
"Stop it, can't you see it's bothering him?! Stop it!" Hermione pleaded.
The professor looked to Neville, as if he broke out of a trance, and stopped. He took the spider back into his hand and walked towards Hermione's desk, placing the fatigued insect in front of her when he got there.
"Perhaps you can give us the last curse, Ms. Granger." Moody suggested and Hermione shook her head, which she never did when asked for an answer. "No? Avada Kedavra!"
A green bolt shot from Moody's wand to the spider, making it keel over instantly.
"The Killing Curse." Moody said as he began walking around. "One hit and you're out, instantly. There's no know counter-curse for it and the only known survivor of it is in this room."
Harry looked up to see Moody staring down at him and something clicked in his mind. He then looked at Hermione, who still look horrified, with the corpse of the spider still on her desk.
"Now, on with the lesson."
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
"Harry, what's wrong?" Cedric asked. He and Harry met up and went to spend their free period with a picnic by Black Lake. They had finished their meal and sat together under the shade of a tree. Cedric grew suspicious that something was wrong when he realized Harry was being more quiet the usual.
"Well, it has something to do with what happened in class today." Harry said and Cedric nodded. "Ever since I found out that my parents were murdered by some wizard, I was wondering how it happened. Today, Professor Moody showed us the Unforgivable Curses and the last one, the Killing Curse, he said that I was the only survivor and it made me think. Was that all it was? Was the last thing my parents saw was a green light before everything went black?"
Cedric didn't know what to say to Harry. He knew about the Unforgivable Curses and he heard stories about how Voldemort and his followers went through the country, home to home, killing people who got in their way and those who were unlucky of being muggle-born. So Cedric pulled Harry onto his lap and wrapped his arms around the raven. Harry straddled Cedric's legs, wrapped his arms around his shoulders, and buried his face in the brunette's neck. They stayed like that for a few minutes before Harry pulled away and smiled up at Cedric.
"You always know how to make me feel better." He said.
"Well, I try." Cedric said as he kissed Harry on the forehead. "What class do you have next?"
"Ugh, Potions." Harry groaned and laid his head on Cedric's chest. "Can't I just stay here with you? I'm sure Snape would prefer it if I didn't show up."
"Snape's not that bad if you do what's instructed. Potions is basically following orders." Cedric said. "And I thought you had gotten better since last year."
"I am, but Snape's gotten worse to work for." Harry said. "It's obviously because he got beaten for the Defence job for the nth time."
"You're really stressed out." Cedric returned as he ran his hand down Harry's back. "Maybe a warm bath in the Prefects' Bathroom would relieve you."
"Mr. Diggory, you do know the punishment in giving unauthorized access to students?" Harry teased as he raised his head to be at level with Cedric's.
"Well, nobody will see you since you'll be under your Invisibility Cloak." Cedric replied.
"Abusing privileges, breaking rules, and so early in the school year." Harry replied, giving the brunette a quick peck on the cheek.
"What can I say? You running around and breaking rules in the past year has rubbed off on me." Cedric returned, pulling Harry in and locking their lips together.