The next night, during dinner, the girls were surprised when Minerva came to talk to them at the Gryffindor table.
"I'd like to speak to the three of you after dinner in my office when you've done eating," she said, just loud enough for them to hear her.
"Of course, Professor," replied Hermione, smiling. "We're almost done, we'll be up soon."
Minerva smiled, nodded, and walked briskly from the Great Hall.
"What was that about?" asked Padma, curiously.
"No idea," Luna replied, shrugging. "I'll meet you in the Common Room when we're done?"
Padma smiled and nodded.
"Any idea what Minerva wants to talk to us about?" thought Ginny to Hermione.
"None...but I wanted to talk to her about Luna's bracelet anyway," replied Hermione.
The girls finished their meal and then walked up to Minerva's office.
"See you in a little bit?" asked Padma as she pulled Luna into her arms.
"Shouldn't be too long, but if it is, I'll come crawl into bed with you when I get back...okay?" Padma smiled, nodded and accepted Luna's kiss before leaving.
They entered Minerva's office and found her sitting in an armchair by the fire.
"Good evening, Minerva," they greeted her together as they went to sit across from her on the couch...just like they had almost a year ago.
"How have your first couple of days been?" she asked them.
"Aside from Ron...good," replied Ginny.
"How was your honeymoon?" asked Luna.
"Too short," said Minerva with a sigh.
"Did you go to the World Cup?" asked Hermione.
"We did but we left shortly after the match...I'm not as young as I used to be and sleeping in a tent didn't appeal to either of us-thank you, by the way, for having Cara let me know you were okay," replied Minerva.
"Wait a sec...just how many people did you let know you were okay?" asked Luna, a hint of anger in her voice.
"We let my dad know as soon as we got back to the tent and then we sent Cara to let Molly know…" replied Hermione as she reached for Luna's hand, "It won't happen again, we promise."
Hermione looked back to Minerva.
"You didn't ask us here to catch up...what's up?" she asked.
"I wanted to speak to you before your first lesson with Professor Moody," Minerva sighed and shook her head. "I know Albus asked him here as extra security for the Triwizard but I've gotten wind of what he has planned for his lessons.
"He has been demonstrating the Unforgivable Curses to his fourth year classes and, I believe, he intends to perform the Imperius Curse on his students to teach them how to fight it-this poses a particular challenge for the three of you.
"Your practice with focus and blocking each other's abilities-in conjunction with your Amice rings-I believe, will make it near impossible for him to place the curse on you. Albus and I agree, that if you appear to fight the curse's effects too easily it will arouse suspicion-especially if all three of are able to do it with ease.
"You're not expecting us to take the rings off are you-because that makes me uncomfortable on too many levels to count," said Ginny.
"No...I am however suggesting you allow Professor Moody to place the curse on you at least once before you demonstrate how easily you can fight it off," replied Minerva.
"In other words-fake it?" asked Hermione.
"Precisely...it is absolutely essential that no one figure out how advanced and powerful you three are…" Minerva started but was interrupted by Luna.
"But don't you trust the teachers here?" she asked.
"Of course, however, should one of them brag about you in public...or even one of your fellow students should...the wrong people may become suspicious of your abilities. I know you've all become accustomed to using silent wandless magic and I understand the frustration you must feel at having to pretend you are not as advanced as you are-however it is essential that you play the part of, albeit exceptional, fourth year students. Many adults have difficulty with non-verbal magic and wandless is almost unheard of...and I have met few who do it with the ease the three of you can."
"Why not warn us before school started?" asked Ginny.
"This wasn't meant so much as a warning but as a reminder-I specifically wanted to warn you about what Professor Moody has planned-I was fairly certain you were already aware of the necessity to hide your abilities," explained Minerva.
"No...the reminder is good, but Luna beat you to it on our first night back...Padma noticed when I redirected one of Peeves' water balloons at Ron and then she resized a painting in front of her," said Hermione.
"Speaking of Padma-Minerva, we were wondering if there's a way to charm something other than a ring to work the way the Promise rings work and whether it's necessary to have both people wearing them?" asked Luna. "It's just...I've caught up to Ginny emotionally and honestly, I don't know how I'm going to be able to take things slowly with Padma...especially after everything that happened this summer."
Minerva studied Luna a moment before answering.
"So you're saying you're worried about you being able to take things slowly but not Padma's?" she asked.
"Well, yeah, because in some ways I'm older than she is…" replied Luna. "I was hoping maybe you could charm the bracelet Padma gave me?" she said as she showed Minerva her new silver bracelet.
Minerva smiled. "That should work but you won't be able to take it off again until you turn fifteen and it would only work with Padma…"
"I understand...I just want some help to temper my desire for her…" Luna replied, blushing deeply.
Minerva smiled again and took her wand from her robes.
"I can charm your bracelet so that it won't actually stop you, like the Promise rings do, but it will allow you to feel satisfied with taking things slowly," replied Minerva.
"Thank you, Minerva," said Luna as she went to stand in front of Minerva.
Minerva muttered a quiet incantation as she tapped Luna's bracelet with her wand-the bracelet glowed briefly as the clasp disappeared and the bracelet became one solid piece.
"Now...is there anything else you'd like to talk about?" asked Minerva.
"Nothing I can think of," replied Hermione as she looked to Ginny and Luna-who both shook their heads.
"I would like to meet with the three of you every other Wednesday-to check in and track your Animagus training progress," said Minerva as she and the girls stood. She opened her arms and accepted a hug from the three girls. "Have a good night...I'll see you in class in the morning."
…
Hermione, Ginny and Luna lined up with the rest of the excited Gryffindors who had heard rumors of how exciting Moody's classes were. They were all talking animatedly, except for the girls, who already knew what was coming.
The class entered the classroom as the bell rang, the girls and Harry taking seats near the front of the room and took out their copies of The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection, and waited quietly for Professor Moody to arrive.
They heard his distinctive footsteps as he approached the room and then, without looking at them, walked to the front of the classroom and said: "You can put those away-those books. You won't need them."
He limped over and took a seat behind his desk as the class put their books back in their bags.
Moody took out a register, pushed his hair out of his eyes and began to call out names. The whole time his regular eye read the list in front of him while his magical eye focused in on each student as they answered.
"Right then," he said, when he'd read the last name, "I've had a letter from Professor Lupin about this class. Seems you've had a pretty thorough grounding in tackling Dark creatures - you've covered boggarts, Red Caps, hinkypunks, grindylows, Kappas, and werewolves, is that right?"
There was a general murmur of assent.
"But you're behind - very behind - on dealing with curses," said Moody. "So 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 Dark -"
"What, aren't you staying?" Ron blurted out.
Hermione turned in her seat slightly to find that Ron was sitting by himself near the back of the room.
Moody seemed to smile slightly-it was hard to tell, as his face was so scarred.
"You'll be Arthur Weasley's son, eh?" Moody said. "Your father got me out of a very tight corner a few days ago.…Yeah, I'm staying just the one year. Special favor to Dumbledore.…One year, and then back to my quiet retirement."
He gave a harsh laugh, and then clapped his gnarled hands together.
"So - straight into it. Curses. They come in many strengths and forms. Now, according to the Ministry of Magic, I'm supposed to teach you countercurses and leave it at that. I'm not supposed to show you what illegal Dark curses look like until you're in the sixth year. You're not supposed to be old enough to deal with it till then. But Professor Dumbledore's got a higher opinion of your nerves, he reckons you can cope, and I say, the sooner you know what you're up against, the better. How are you supposed to defend yourself against something you've never seen? A wizard who's about to put an illegal curse on you isn't going to tell you what he's about to do. He's not going to do it nice and polite to your face. You need to be prepared. You need to be alert and watchful. You need to put that away, Miss Brown, when I'm talking."
"I think that eye of his can see through wood!" Hermione thought to Luna and Ginny.
"So…do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by wizarding law?"
A few people raised their hands including Hermione and, to everyone's surprise, Ron.
"Er," said Ron tentatively, "my dad told me about one.…Is it called the Imperius Curse, or something?"
"Ah, yes," said Moody appreciatively. "Your father would know that one. Gave the Ministry a lot of trouble at one time, the Imperius Curse."
Moody slowly got to his feet, opened a desk drawer, and took out a glass jar. Hermione smiled slightly when she saw what was in the jar-three very large spiders. She snuck a look at Ron and was pleased to see he looked terrified.
Moody reached into the jar, caught one of the spiders, and held it in the palm of his hand so that they could all see it. He then pointed his wand at it and muttered, "Imperio!"
The spider leapt from Moody's hand on a fine thread of silk and began to swing backward and forward as though on a trapeze. It stretched out its legs rigidly, then did a back flip, breaking the thread and landing on the desk, where it began to cartwheel in circles. Moody jerked his wand, and the spider rose onto two of its hind legs and went into what was unmistakably a tap dance.
Everyone was laughing - everyone except Moody and the three girls who had taken each other's hands under the desk.
"Think it's funny, do you?" he growled. "You'd like it, would you, if I did it to you?"
The laughter died away almost instantly.
"Total control," said Moody quietly as the spider balled itself up and began to roll over and over. "I could make it jump out of the window, drown itself, throw itself down one of your throats…
"Years back, there were a lot of witches and wizards being controlled by the Imperius Curse," said Moody. "Some job for the Ministry, trying to sort out who was being forced to act, and who was acting of their own free will.
"The Imperius Curse can be fought, and I'll be teaching you how, but it takes real strength of character, and not everyone's got it. Better avoid being hit with it if you can. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he roared causing everyone to jump.
Moody picked up the somersaulting spider and threw it back into the jar.
"Anyone else know one? Another illegal curse?"
Hermione raised her hand and to her surprise, so did Neville, who also looked surprised to see his hand in the air.
"Yes?" said Moody, his magical eye rolling right over to fix on Neville.
"There's one - the Cruciatus Curse," said Neville quietly.
Moody was looking very intently at Neville, this time with both eyes.
"Your name's Longbottom?" he said, his magical eye swooping down to check the register again.
Neville nodded nervously, but Moody made no further inquiries. Turning back to the class at large, he reached into the jar for the next spider and placed it upon the desktop, where it remained motionless, apparently too scared to move.
"The Cruciatus Curse," said Moody. "Needs to be a bit bigger for you to get the idea," he said, pointing his wand at the spider. "Engorgio!"
The spider grew to twice it's size-the girls turned at the sound of a chair scraping as it was moved back and saw a look of fear on Ron's face.
Moody raised his wand again, pointed it at the spider, and muttered, "Crucio!"
At once, the spider's legs bent in upon its body; it rolled over and began to twitch horribly, rocking from side to side. No sound came from it but, if it were able to scream it likely would have been.
Luna turned to look at Neville as she had felt his fear.
"Stop it!" Luna said quietly.
Harry turned to look at her and found she was watching Neville-his hands in tight fists, the knuckles white and an obvious look of fear on his face.
Moody raised his wand. The spider's legs relaxed, but it continued to twitch.
"Reducio," Moody muttered, and the spider shrank back to its proper size. He put it back into the jar.
"Pain," said Moody softly. "You don't need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can perform the Cruciatus Curse.…That one was very popular once too.
"Right…anyone know any others?"
Hermione raised her hand, shaking slightly, as she worried how seeing the next curse would affect Harry.
"Yes?" said Moody, looking at her.
"Avada Kedavra," she said quietly.
"Ah," said Moody, a sad little smile twisting his features again. "Yes, the last and worst. Avada Kedavra.…the Killing Curse."
As he took out the third spider and placed it on the desk Luna reached for Harry's hand as she too was worried how Harry would react at seeing the curse that had killed his parents. It seemed the spider knew what was coming and attempted to run away.
Moody raised his wand, and roared; "Avada Kedavra!"
There was a flash of green light and a whooshing noise as the curse flew through the air towards the spider. Instantly the spider rolled onto its back, unmarked, but clearly dead.
Moody swept the dead spider off the desk onto the floor.
"Not nice," he said calmly. "Not pleasant. And there's no countercurse. There's no blocking it. Only one known person has ever survived it, and he's sitting right in front of me."
Luna looked at Harry's face which had grown red under the gaze of both Moody's eyes. The whole class seemed to be studying him to see his reaction as he looked blankly ahead of him. Luna squeezed his hand slightly and attempted to calm him.
"Avada Kedavra's a curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behind it - you could all get your wands out now and point them at me and say the words, and I doubt I'd get so much as a nosebleed. But that doesn't matter. I'm not here to teach you how to do it.
"Now, if there's no countercurse, why am I showing you? Because you've got to know. You've got to appreciate what the worst is. You don't want to find yourself in a situation where you're facing it. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he roared, and the whole class jumped again.
"Now…those three curses - Avada Kedavra, Imperius, and Cruciatus - are known as the Unforgivable Curses. The use of any one of them on a fellow human being is enough to earn a life sentence in Azkaban. That's what you're up against. That's what I've got to teach you to fight. You need preparing. You need arming. But most of all, you need to practice constant, never-ceasing vigilance. Get out your quills…copy this down.…"
They spent the rest of the lesson taking notes on each of the Unforgivable Curses. The class unusually quiet until Moody dismissed them. As the class walked out and towards the Great Hall they began talking excitedly about what they had just seen.
"Are you okay, Harry?" Luna asked quietly.
"Yeah...seeing it though…" he replied sadly then looked to her: "Thanks, Luna, for trying to comfort me while he performed the curse."
"Hurry up," said Hermione as she had just spotted Neville standing alone and staring at the stone wall across from him. She wondered why seeing the Cruciatus Curse had affected him so badly.
"Neville?" she said quietly as she placed a hand on his shoulder and was shocked to find the reason for Neville's state. "Luna...try to help him."
Luna nodded slightly and gently took his hand.
"Oh hello," he said, his voice much higher than usual but then, thanks to Luna's efforts, seem to gain strength again. "Interesting lesson, wasn't it? I wonder what's for dinner, I'm - I'm starving, aren't you?"
"Neville, are you all right?" asked Hermione.
"Oh yes, I'm fine," Neville said shaking his head slightly. "Very interesting dinner - I mean lesson - what's for eating?"
"Neville?" said Ginny quietly and waited for him to meet her eyes; "You can talk to us if you need to…" Ginny trailed off as they heard Moody's footsteps approaching them.
"It's all right, sonny," Moody said gently as he placed a hand on Neville's shoulder. "Why don't you come up to my office? Come on…we can have a cup of tea.…"
Neville looked even more frightened at the prospect of tea with Moody. He neither moved nor spoke. Moody turned his magical eye upon Harry.
"You all right, are you, Potter?"
"Yes," said Harry, almost defiantly.
Moody's blue eye quivered slightly in its socket as it surveyed Harry. Then he said, "You've got to know. It seems harsh, maybe, but you've got to know. No point pretending…well…come on, Longbottom, I've got some books that might interest you."
Neville looked pleadingly at Harry, Ron, and Hermione, but they didn't say anything, so Neville had no choice but to allow himself to be steered away, one of Moody's gnarled hands on his shoulder.
As the girls and Harry watched Neville be lead away...Hermione shook her head sadly and wondered why none of them had never thought to ask him why he was raised by his grandmother.
"Did you get anything from him?" Luna thought to Hermione.
"I did," she thought back and sighed aloud: "Another life darkened by damn Tom...I'll explain later."
…
While they were eating dinner Hermione looked to Padma and asked, "Would you mind terribly if we stole Luna for a couple of hours?"
Padma looked at her a moment before answering.
"Luna warned me there would be times she would have to spend time with you guys without me," she said sighing. "I guess it's okay," she said as she looked and smiled at Luna beside her, "as long as I'm in her arms when I fall asleep tonight."
Luna smiled and kissed her.
"Thank you for understanding...I won't be long," she said quietly.
They finished eating and, after Luna had kissed her girlfriend one last time, they left the Great Hall together.
"Let's go to our quarters and I'll tell you what I saw…" said Hermione as they walked towards the door near the Entrance Hall that would take them to their quarters.
As soon as they entered she enveloped both girls in her arms.
"I can't believe dad gave him permission to show us the curses…" she said quietly.
"So...why was Neville so upset?" asked Ginny as she pulled away from the hug and led them both over to the couch.
"I didn't see everything...but I suspect it's the reason he lives with his grandmother...I saw his parents...they're alive but where he was picturing them was inside a hospital and they didn't seem...I don't know, sane?"
"Can someone be driven insane by a curse?" wondered Ginny.
"Well...it's torture, isn't it," said Luna quietly. "I would think that, if one was exposed to it for too long-being in that much pain? I could see how it could damage someone's mind."
"Poor Neville, " sighed Ginny.
"What was Harry feeling when Moody performed the Avada Kedavra?" asked Hermione curiously.
"Sadness...fear…" Luna replied as she shook her head slightly. "I know how he feels...not just because of my gift, but because I watched my mother die...I had to try and help him."
"Luna...do you already have feelings for him?" asked Ginny.
"Yes...but my feelings for Padma are stronger...I'm not as physically attracted to Harry," answered Luna.
"Does the bracelet work?" asked Hermione.
"It does...really takes the edge off...thank you for suggesting it," replied Luna.
"No thanks necessary...you ought to get the chance to feel like a thirteen year old and enjoy the journey too-without feeling frustrated," replied Hermione smiling.
"It sure beat my plan...that potion I gave Ginny at Easter," she said grinning.
"Luna...how would you feel about a little cuddle session before you go back to Padma?" asked Hermione.
Luna smiled broadly.
"I could use the power boost but maybe set an alarm in case we fall asleep?"
They all stood and went to lay on the larger bed together.
"Is it weird that, even though I really like sleeping with Padma, I miss being with you two?" asked Luna quietly as she rested her head on Ginny's shoulder and Ginny slipped her hand under shirt and began rubbing her back.
"Well...we do have the weirdest friendship ever," joked Hermione and then continued more seriously, "But it's not us you miss, so much as the extra power you get from us."
"That's true but I miss you guys as well...I'm just so used to being around you two," said Luna, sighing.
"I think, maybe, it's one of the reasons we didn't think to let you know we were okay after the riot at the World Cup...we're just so used to you being with us we, kind of, forgot you weren't," said Ginny.
"That and, when we sent Rue to dad it was really late and then when we sent Cara to Molly we were in such a rush to get out of there...it shouldn't have slipped our minds, but it did," added Hermione.
"I know," said Luna, sighing. "I'm just hoping we don't have to spend too much time apart again…"
"Speaking of which...have you broached the subject with Padma-spending a night a week with us?" asked Ginny.
"No...I can't think of a way to bring it up...but I'll try before next weekend, okay?" said Luna.
"Okay…" said Hermione and Ginny smiling.
"We should really go visit Rowena this weekend...maybe the four of us can have dinner there Saturday night?" suggested Hermione.
"I'll ask her," replied Luna as she looked at her watch, "I should get going…I'm supposed to be doing my Ancient Runes homework with Padma." She sat up and stretched, "Thanks guys...I needed this."
The three of them got out of bed-Hermione and Ginny hugged and kissed Luna before watching her leave through the door.
"Seems stupid we have to leave only to come back," sighed Ginny as they too left through the door.
"It's about keeping up appearances...remember?"
"I can't wait to get out of school and no longer hide what we can do," Ginny said as they went to enter Gryffindor tower.
"I don't know, Gin, I think we might always have to hide, to some degree, what we can do…"
"Guess we're going to be getting good at 'faking it', eh?"
"One thing that'll never be faked, Gin, is how I feel about you…" she told her quietly as she looked around the common room for Neville. "I want to talk to Harry a moment…"
They walked over to where he sat alone working on his homework.
"Have you seen Neville?" asked Hermione as they sat down at the table with him.
"His up in the dorm reading a plant book Moody gave him," replied Harry.
"Is he okay?" asked Ginny.
"Seems to be," he replied thoughtfully. "Looked like he'd been crying…"
"Keep an eye on him...I have a feeling that curse has something to do with why he lives with his grandmother," said Hermione, pausing to study Harry a moment before continuing; "You okay Harry?"
He sighed before answering and looked off into the distance.
"I don't know...I guess I should be grateful they didn't suffer…"
"I think you should talk to Neville, Harry, I have a feeling of all the people who were in class today-maybe you two are the only ones who would really understand what the other is going through," said Hermione.
"I will...thanks, guys."
"We're off to bed...see you in the morning," said Ginny as she and Hermione stood then both went give him a hug where he sat.
Harry shook his head.
"And Ron really doesn't understand why I would choose to hang out with you three over him," he joked. "I swear...he has the emotional range of teaspoon."
A/N: hey folks...I have a bunch of work to do at my old apartment before Saturday and I can only promise to try and get another chapter or two up before then...