Disclaimer: The Potterverse and all characters belong to JK Rowling
Authors Note: This chapter will go through September
First Lessons, Blast-Ended Skrewts, Harry's Suspicions and an accident in Potions
Molly woke up early on her first day of classes.
She was too excited to stay in bed and could not wait to begin lessons that morning.
She had managed to learn the layout of the castle somewhat in the four days she'd been at Hogwarts.
She decided to head down to the common room and got quietly dressed before leaving the dorm and closing the door carefully behind her.
She spent the rest of the time until breakfast reading quietly in a corner as she brushed up on some of her subjects especially Potions which was her favourite.
At one point, Harry, Draco, Neville, Ginny, Luna and Hermione together with an exhausted Ron all trooped in through the portrait hole.
Molly knew from the letters her Brothers sent, that all of the group they called the New Marauders spent much time jogging in the early mornings to keep fit and healthy.
He and Draco walked over to her "alright Sis? what are you doing up at such an hour?".
Molly checked her watch and saw it was only seven am.
She looked at her Brothers and grinned "couldn't sleep" she told them "too excited for today".
Harry and Draco both grinned and Draco said "don't be too excited. I happen to know that First Years have Professor Binns on Monday's".
Molly frowned at the words of scorn from her Brother "is he really that bad?" she asked them.
Both of them snorted "he's the worst teacher here" Harry said.
Ron walked over closely followed by Neville "who are we all talking about?" he asked them.
"Binns" Harry and Draco said together.
Ron grimaced "oh god, he's awful. His lessons are a total snorefest" he informed Molly.
"Yeah. All he does is drone on and on about Goblin Rebellions. It's literally all he talks about and sets homework on" Neville added, picking some fluff from his t-shirt.
"Hi Molly" Hermione said coming over "who are you guys talking about?".
"Binns" the boys all said.
Unlike them Hermione's face didn't grimace "he's not really a bad teacher you know" she said "he's just stuck in his ways".
"Yeah and being a ghost he's not likely to change is he?" Ron said.
The boys all laughed. Hermione let out a huff and headed for the stairs.
"She doesn't like it when we rubbish teachers in front of her" Harry explained.
Molly couldn't understand this. After all, if a teacher was awful then people should be allowed to say so "it's just the way she was brought up" Ron defended.
"Better not tell her about the House Elves" Neville muttered.
The four boys laughed heartily at this and Molly asked "what about the House Elves?".
Harry looked around to make sure Hermione really was gone "she doesn't know they don't work for money at Hogwarts" he told her.
Molly laughed at this.
Hermione was ridiculously smart. How could she not know this?.
The first day seemed to go really well after that, save for the boring History of Magic lesson which she had been warned about.
They had been right.
All the ghost seemed to talk about was Goblin Rebellions. He never mentioned anything else like the Rise and Fall of Grindlewald or the First Wizarding War or anything.
She had decided by the end of that first day that it would be her least favourite subject.
By the end of the first week she had concluded that she enjoyed Potions, Transfiguration and Charms the most out of all classes but that she also quite liked Defence Against The Dark Arts, even though Professor Moody was rather scary and loud.
True to their word Harry and Draco showed her and her new friends Alex and Carol all of the secrets passages and shortcuts to get to lessons on time or anywhere in a hurry, something for which she was immensely grateful.
She felt after the first week that Hogwarts was even more interesting and wonderful than she had thought it would be.
She loved the ghosts flying around, she loved Gryffindor Tower, the Great Hall, the suits of Armour that danced on their own.
On the first Saturday of the term she'd even gone down to Hagrids cabin for tea and rock cakes with her new best friends (they'd turned down the rock cakes).
She was disappointed however that she would not get to watch her Brother play Quidditch this year.
Though she was excited to watch this Triwizard Tournament whatever it was.
The first two weeks back at Hogwarts were very busy for the New Marauders as they settled back into the routine of classes and homework.
The first incident of the school year happened on the second day back.
As classes had not yet begun on the second of September Harry and the other New Marauders were walking through the grass covered central courtyard.
As they were walking by a large oak tree a snide voice called out "Potter. Bet you were quaking in your boots at the World Cup!".
Harry sighed. Nott's taunts were now getting embarrassing.
He walked on and Nott called out again "what's the matter Potter? too afraid to face me?".
Harry turned around "no Nott I just have better things to do, like hang out with my friends and family" he grinned "don't suppose you want to hang out with your family though. What with them all being insane Deatheaters".
Draco and the others laughed at this, Harry turned his back on Nott and began to walk.
"You'll pay for that Potter!" Nott shouted.
He heard footsteps, the sound of a wand being drawn and then he heard "oh no you don't laddie!".
There was a popping sound.
Harry, Draco and the others turned round and saw Professor Moody standing nearby.
His magical eye was swivelling around in head but his real eye was glaring down at what appeared to be a ferret.
"That ought to teach you to try attacking people when their back's turned!" he growled out "lets see how you like it!" he began to bounce the ferret up and down.
When Harry and the others clued in to the fact it was Nott, they began to laugh uproariously while Nott's cronies Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy Parkinson stood and looked at each other in nervous confusion.
It was then that a loud voice cut through the laughter "what is going on here?".
It was Professor McGonagall.
She pushed through the mass of students and in her usual quick way surmised that the ferret was not a ferret "Professor Moody!" she exclaimed "is...is that a student!?".
Moody grinned "the little sod needed teaching a lesson not to attack people when their backs turned!".
"I demand you change him back at once!" Professor McGonagall almost shrieked.
Reluctantly Moody bowed to the request and changed the arrogant prat back to human form.
When Nott had picked himself up with help from his friends he glared at the DADA teacher and said venomously almost spitting out every word "my Father will hear about this!".
Moody's eyes narrowed.
He approached Nott who looked suddenly nervous and growled coldly "I knew your Father boy. I know what he was and still is".
Harry could tell that Nott wanted to reply but his fear stopped him. The Slimy Slytherin turned and walked away.
Harry, Draco and the others were just walking away when Professor McGonagall began her tirade against her colleague "we don't use Transfiguration as a punishment here Professor Moody!" she shouted.
A bit calmer she added "that's what we have detentions for. The next time you see any rule breaking you will bring it to the Head of House concerned, myself as Deputy or the Headmaster, is that clear?".
Moody mumbled something incoherent "I'm sorry?" Professor McGonagall asked.
Moody growled and replied "it's clear", he then stalked off looking grumpy.
The first Monday of the school year finally rolled around and Harry was feeling really excited as their last lesson of the afternoon was Defence Against the Dark Arts.
As Harry walked down to the Great Hall with Draco and the others, his hand firmly grasping Ginny's they speculated as to what Moody would teach them.
Knowing that he was an ex-Auror and paranoid about security Harry felt sure that whatever it was it would be very useful to them all.
Ancient Runes went swiftly and enjoyably and soon Harry and Hermione were joining Ron, Draco and Neville as they walked down across the sloping lawns to Hagrids cabin for their first Care of Magical Creatures lesson of the term.
"What do you think we'll learn about this term?" Harry asked the others as they walked down.
Ron grimaced "as long is it's more interesting than Flobberworms I don't mind".
This was the consensus from Draco, Neville and Hermione too and Harry found himself agreeing with them.
He had visited Hogwarts alongside Draco during the summer with their Parents and Molly to have tea with Hagrid.
Despite their best efforts and Molly's flattery, they had been able to find out nothing of their lessons for this year.
Harry's feeling was that this could either be a very good thing for them or very bad.
Especially given Hagrids feelings on what constituted "exciting creatures".
He well recalled Norbert who was actually a female dragon, that Hagrid had hatched in their First Year and which Harry and the others had risked detention to get to Ron's Brother Charlie as it was too dangerous for Hagrid to keep.
He also recalled the massive three headed dog Hagrid had ludicrously named "Fluffy" that had guarded the trapdoor in the Third Floor corridor.
And he had been told by Hagrid the story of his hatching out an Acromantula called Aragog that now lived in the Forbidden Forest.
Harry thanked his lucky stars he'd never had cause to go that far into the Forest before as he had a feeling he wouldn't like to meet such a creature.
"We should be careful about saying that we don't mind" Harry told the others.
"What?" said Neville.
"What I mean" Harry clarified "is that Hagrids idea of exciting creatures is usually very dangerous".
"That's true. Remember Norbert?" Hermione added.
They all grimaced.
Eventually they reached the boundary of Hagrids cabin and were surprised to see that on the floor lay a large number of wooden crates.
This would not have alarmed them, after all, anything can be kept in a crate.
The thing that unnerved them and the other students nearby was the constant rattling of the crates and the loud sounds of mini explosions emanating from said crates.
"Oh my god!" Draco exclaimed.
"What has he got planned now?" Ron said nervously.
Harry, Hermione and Neville simply eyed the crates uneasily and looked at them in concern every time they rattled.
"If it's some sort of venomous creature I'm off!" Neville declared to them.
"Alright you lot! settle down, settle down!" called out a voice.
Hagrid loomed in to sight wearing as always the long brown coat that he wore during most of the year "now I'll take the register".
Hagrid went through it and then put away the clipboard.
He surveyed the students with a smile "now I expect yer all wonderin what's in these crates" he said jovially tapping one crate with his hand.
As if an answer the crate rattle more noisily and more explosions could be heard.
A sarcastic voice easily recognisable as Nott called out "oh yes I'm sure we can't wait to meet them!".
Hagrid looked confused "err...well...yes...good" he replied frowning.
Harry glared at Nott but didn't say anything.
He was surprised when one of the Slytherins who he recognised to be Blaise Zabini spoke up for Hagrid "look Nott, some of us actually took this class because we enjoy learning about new creatures and have it in mind as a career, not just to pick fights" he said sensibly.
Nott glared at him "I might have known you'd pick their side with your Mother being a filthy..." he had no chance to finish.
Zabini had made a grab for his robes "finish the sentence and I'll finish you!" he snarled.
Harry watched as another Slytherin, Daphne Greengrass stepped forward and put her hand on Zabini's shoulder "leave him Blaise" she looked at Nott in disgust "he's not worth it the bigot" she told the black boy.
He calmed down and Daphne said to Nott "I'm on their side as well and I'm Pureblood Nott, some of us have commonsense".
Her and Blaise separated themselves from the other Slytherins and stood on their own.
Harry was surprise when another boy joined them casting a look of disgust at Nott.
He had the feeling that he was seeing a division in Slytherin, something he'd never have thought possible.
Hagrid began to open one of the crates and using gloves he carefully extracted something.
It was the most ugly creature Harry had ever seen in his life.
Harry was fairly certain from books he had read and pictures he'd seen, that it was a cross between a Manticore and a Fire Crab, though why Hagrid would have these and who would even think of crossbreeding...
'Oh!' said Harry's mind as it filled in the blanks and then added 'oh no!'.
He had just realised that this must be the secret that Hagrid had been preparing for this term, the "exciting" creature that he had for them to learn about.
Harry couldn't understand how Hagrid could possibly think it a good idea to crossbreed two dangerous creatures.
Judging by the looks on the faces of Neville, Ron, Draco and Hermione, the way their eyes widened and the way Neville and Ron took a step back, they had realised what the creatures were a cross of as well.
"What is he thinking?" Draco whispered.
Harry shook his head in disbelief.
'This was most definitely not what I meant when I said I wanted more interesting lessons!' he thought in exasperation.
"Now these little beauties here" Hagrid began.
Harry gaped at him 'that thing is definitely not beautiful Hagrid' he thought.
"Are called Blast-Ended Skrewts" Hagrid continued "I crossbred em meself durin summer!".
"Oh they're lovely" Nott drawled sarcastically.
Again, Hagrid looked confused "yeah they are aren't they" he said beaming after a moment.
Harry had to laugh at that.
Hagrid either knew Nott was being sarcastic and putting him down or not picking up on it and he could see the Slytherin was disappointed about this.
To Harry it looked like a deformed lobster with legs sticking out in odd places, it was black all over with red-orange markings and had a stinger at each end.
This in itself would have made the creature very odd.
But then as Harry looked more carefully he observed that the creature unbelievably had no visible head or mouth.
Once again his thought was 'what were you thinking Hagrid?'.
"Now I'm goin to divide ya up into groups of three, each group will take a Skrewt and endeavour to keep him alive not just today but for the rest of the school year" Hagrid told the dismayed class.
So they divided up.
Harry was put with Hermione and Ron, while Draco was put with Neville and Parvati while Dean and Seamus were, rather unfortunately, for them partnered with Lavender Brown who was nice but a bit vacuous.
"How the hell are we supposed to keep these things alive?" Ron hissed at Harry and Hermione.
They were as stumped as him "I guess we have to find some way of feeding it" Hermione replied logically.
Hagrid handed them lettuce and a number of other foods to give to the Skrewts but given the fact they didn't have mouths, it wasn't surprising that none of the students could manage to feed them.
And as if that wasn't bad enough the Skrewts would, at random intervals, produce tiny explosions that set the students on edge and made them wary of touching the volatile creatures.
Hagrid sidled up to him at one point and asked nervously "how am I doin?".
Harry, Ron and Hermione lied expertly "great Hagrid. You're doing great" they told him brightly and Ron even gave him a thumbs up.
Out of nowhere there was a loud bang and Neville shouted "ow!" as he shook his hand about.
There was smoke coming off of it "Professor Neville's been burnt!" Draco called out.
Hagrid turned pale and rushed over to him.
Harry, Ron and Hermione abandoned their Skrewt and followed him.
When Hagrid with Harry and the others just behind, arrived at Neville's side they could all see that Neville had a large angry red burn on his right hand "I was just trying to feed it and there was an explosion!" he explained to them.
"You'd better take Neville to the Hospital Wing Draco" Hagrid turned to Parvati "can you handle the Skrewt on your own Miss Patil?" Hagrid asked.
Parvati blinked, stared at the Skrewt and nodded in a resigned fashion.
As Draco and Neville walked off up the slope they called out that they'd see Harry, Ron and Hermione in DADA that afternoon.
At the end of the lesson Harry, Hermione and Ron said goodbye to Hagrid promising to visit that weekend and headed back up to the castle.
Once inside they immediately made their way to the Hospital Wing to meet Draco and see if Neville was alright.
When they got there they pushed open the doors to the Hospital Wing and heard the voice of Madam Pomfrey.
It was coming from the first bed on the left just inside the doors.
"How many times have I told Hagrid that certain creatures are not exciting they are dangerous?!".
They walked over to the bed and saw the Medi Witch wrapping bandages around Neville's hand "the magic in these bandages will heal the burns Mr Longbottom but you must make sure to keep them on until tonight. Take them off under no circumstances" she warned wagging a finger in his face.
She must have heard their footsteps as she turned "Potter, Weasley, Granger. Your friend Mr Longbottom is ready to leave" she looked at them sternly "make sure he follows my instructions" she told them.
"Thanks Madam Pomfrey" Hermione said.
Madam Pomfrey actually smiled "I don't know how you lot get into such situations".
Harry grinned "problems have a way of finding us" he told her.
They exited the Hospital Wing and handed Neville and Draco their school bags and the five of them headed for lunch.
The last lesson of the day rolled around and the New Marauders found themselves standing outside the Defence classroom as they waited for Professor Moody to let them in.
Ron and Neville were leaning against the wall looking bored while Harry, Draco and Hermione were in conversation with Dean and Seamus "how's Neville's hand?" Seamus asked.
Draco said "he'll be alright. There were some burns but Madam P put some bandages on his hand, she says it'll be healed by tonight".
"That's good" said Dean grinning.
"You guys have any idea what we'll be learning?" Dean asked the three of them.
Harry, Draco and Hermione all shook their heads "not a clue" Harry said "Moody's always been a bit unpredictable".
As if to demonstrate this unpredictability there was a loud bang and Moody came into view looking annoyed "why did none of you have your wands out?" he growled.
The students all exchanged confused looks and Hermione said "why did we need our wands out Professor?".
Moody turned to Hermione and shouted "CONSTANT VIGILENCE!" causing everyone to jump.
He then strode over to the classroom door, unlocked it and motioned everyone to go in.
Once the last student was in he closed the door, headed to his desk and went through the register.
Once everyone had answered he looked at them, he real eye glaring at each student while his magical one swivelled about madly.
"Books away" he told the ones who had their books out ready.
Everyone put their books away and he said "today we learn about something the Ministry thinks you are too young to learn about, but I say you need to know!".
He wrote on the board "Unforgivable Curses".
When he had done so he asked "who can give me the name of an Unforgivable Curse?".
Several students put their hands up, Moody chose Harry who said "the Killing Curse".
Moody nodded and chalked it up on the board "yes that is a particularly nasty curse which results in instant death, what other curses?".
Ron put his hand up hesitantly "yes Mr Weasley?".
"My Dad told me of one called the Imperius Curse".
Moody stroked his chin "ah yes the Imperius Curse, yes your Parents would know a lot about that" he said to Harry, Draco and Ron "it gave us at the Ministry a lot of problems a few years back, what is the final curse?".
Hermione put her hand up and said "the Cruciatus Curse".
Moody nodded solemnly "yes the Cruciatus. Possibly the worst of the three".
He chalked up both the Imperius and Cruciatus Curses on the board and then said "I'll demonstrate these three curses and what they do and then I want you to note the effects".
He took out a spider from a jar. Ron grimaced and looked scared.
Harry knew his friend was and probably would always be terrified of the creatures.
Moody placed the spider on the desk "the first curse is the Imperius, so named as it removes the free will of the person or animal subjected to it and forces them to do the casters bidding for as long as the spell is in place".
He aimed his wand at the spider "Imperio" he said calmly.
The spider was suddenly stock still as if waiting for orders "what should I order him to do?" he asked calmly "walk?" he laughed "dance?".
The class laughed for a time as the spider began to dance.
Moody directed the spider with his wand around the room causing shrieks and yells while Ron looked horrified as it landed on his desk.
Moody brought it back to his desk and hovered it over his glass of water "how about I order it to drown itself?" he said coldly.
The class stopped laughing and fell silent "you see now how insidious this spell is" he said seriously "the caster can make you do anything. He can make you dance, tell jokes, kiss someone" Moody's face turned grim "or he can order you to attack someone. A friend or a family member, the caster can ever make you kill them. It will be my duty in the next lesson to teach you to throw this curse off" he informed them.
Once the class had copied to parchment the effects of the spell Moody asked "is everybody ready to see the second curse?".
The class nodded. None of them were laughing or even smiling now.
"The second Curse known as the Cruciatus is used by many dark wizards to torture their opponents and even innocent bystanders and is in my opinion the worst dark spell bar none".
He aimed his wand at the spider and murmured "Crucio" the spider began to writhe in agony the spell hit it.
After a perhaps forty seconds of Neville looking steadily sicker Hermione shouted "stop it! can't you see how upset it's making us?!".
Moody stared at the students and released the spell.
The spider flopped onto the desk clearly struggling "the curse causes a feeling like an electrical charge to rage through the body plunging the victim into pure agony for as long as it is applied" Moody sighed "it is so vile that it can even cause a victim to lose their mind if kept under it's effects for long enough".
Harry glanced over at Neville and knew what his friend was thinking.
Harry had been told of the battle at Longbottom Manor and knew that Neville's Dad Frank and his Mother Alice could have been two such victims turned mad had his Dad and other Aurors not arrived when they did.
They students dutifully copied everything down and for many minutes the only sound that could be heard was the scratching of quills.
"Everybody got that copied down?" Moody asked.
The class nodded an affirmative and Moody said "right then, it's time to see the effects of the final curse, it is mercifully very brief but some of you may not wish to see it. If not then look away now".
Some students averted their eyes but many including Harry could not tear their eyes away "Avada Kedavra" Moody said calmly.
A sickening green light hit the spider as it attempted to limp away.
The creature stopped moving and Harry knew it was dead.
He felt sick.
That Tuesday morning found Harry and the others in their Potions class.
As always Professor Snape strode in, black cloak billowing behind him, hung up his cloak and surveyed the class with a smile "good morning class. Welcome to another year of Potions. Did you all have a good summer?".
Most students answered in the affirmative though some Slytherins didn't speak.
The class seemed to move on quite well as they were told what potion they would be working on and set out their equipment and ingredients accordingly.
It was halfway through the class when the accident happened.
Harry who was partnered with Neville was stirring the cauldron as Neville adjusted the amount of ingredients.
Suddenly, there was a loud bang.
Most of the class including Harry and Neville looked round wildly for its source before their eyes fastened on the side of the class where the Slytherins had worked.
It was clear something had gone horribly wrong with Crabbe and Goyles potion.
Professor Snape came striding over looking concerned and also a bit annoyed "what happened? why is this potion seeping everywhere?" he demanded.
Crabbe answered "my cauldron blew up Professor".
Professor Snape shook his head as he took in the sight of his House students covered in burning potion.
He put out the steam coming from them and instructed "you had all better go and get sorted out by Madam Pomfrey. Take your bags".
The Slytherin students left though not before the Professor added "I shall be speaking to you in my office tonight Mr Crabbe".
Crabbe nodded and walked out of the classroom painfully and with difficulty.
It was now the first Saturday of the term.
Harry had gathered the other New Marauders together to plan a prank on Nott and the other Slytherin students for the way they had treated Hagrid "now, it's got to be something different" he told them all "something we've never done before".
Everyone was silent in thought for a while trying to think up ideas.
Ron suddenly burst out "how about we replace their soap with Frog Spawn soap and place stink pellets in their clothes?".
Harry liked the idea instantly.
"I like it. It's new and funny" he declared.
"It gets my vote" Neville chipped in.
"And mine" Draco added.
"There's just one issue" Hermione said.
The four boys looked at her as if wondering what could possibly be the problem.
"What?" Harry asked.
Hermione rolled her eyes 'for talented wizards they can be really dense sometimes' she thought "well, how do we get into the Slytherin common room and up to the dorms without being noticed?".
"Simple" Ron replied "Polyjuice" he said.
"Are you crazy Ron!" Hermione hissed "I know we've done it before but it could go wrong. And besides we'd have to take ingredients from Professor Snape".
Harry shook his head and smiled "Molter!" he called.
There was a loud pop and the young House Elf appeared bowing to them "what is Master Harry needing?" he asked deferentially.
Harry scratched down a list of ingredients "Molter I need you to buy this. Head to our dorm room and take however much you need to buy it" he instructed before adding "and tell no one Molter".
Molter nodded seriously "I shall not say one word Master Harry. I'd die before betraying you".
Harry patted the elf's shoulder "I prefer you to live" he said.
Molter disapparated and Harry grinned at Hermione "see? simple".
In contrary to the response he'd expected his friend glared at him "I can't believe you are getting him to do this just for a prank!" she exclaimed.
"What's worse Hermione, getting Molter to pay for the ingredients or stealing them?".
Hermione bit her lip "it's still not right" she proclaimed.
"At least he's treated better than many House Elves" Ron said before he could stop himself.
Harry, Neville and Draco gazed at him in horror and Harry shook his head.
Ron unfortunately could be very dense sometimes and failed to pick up on the tenseness "what do you mean Ron?" Hermione asked curiously.
Before Harry, Neville or Draco could stop him he told her "well most House Elves aren't paid are they?".
"Ron!" Harry said through gritted teeth "shut up!".
Ron looked at him in confusion for a moment before understanding "oh" he said simply.
"Yes oh!" Harry snapped.
"They don't get paid?" Hermione said looking furious "you mean they're...they're...slaves!".
Everyone winced "it's more complicated than that Hermione" Draco tried to tell her.
"I don't care!" she shouted before storming out of the Room of Requirement.
Harry rounded on Ron.
He wasn't angry he just said "nice going idiot. Now she'll probably set up some organisation".
"I...I...I..." Ron stuttered.
That Thursday came the next Defence Against The Dark Arts lesson as a double period.
Harry was interested to see what would happen but also a little apprehensive.
A part of his mind continued to insist that something was up with his Dad's mentor and even though he pushed the voice down he still wondered.
As with their first lesson under Moody he tried to surprise the students by coming out the shadows, wand drawn and raised to fight.
To the older wizards satisfaction the students all had their wands out ready this time.
The lesson that followed was one of the most bizarre ones Harry had ever experienced.
It started off normally enough as Moody called up Ron and others to demonstrate what the curse could do to a human being.
Harry watched in amazement as Ron allowed a spider to crawl all over him, something he'd never have done in a million years.
Hermione did a series of cartwheels, Seamus danced, Dean recited poetry and it went on and on.
Harry was surprised he didn't get a go but then stood in a line with the others as Moody next declared "I shall now place the curse on each of you based on alphabetical order, your objective will be to refuse to do my bidding and throw off the curse. While under the curse I shall try to convince you to jump on this desk" Moody patted the desk for emphasise.
Most of the students were nervous about this while Harry felt determined to not fail.
Harry was not surprised when the vast majority of his fellow students stepped up and failed to resist.
A few hesitated which drew approval from Moody.
Finally it was his turn.
Harry stepped up in front of the desk, Moody said "Imperio" and the world began to grow distant as if he was no longer in control of his own actions, as if he had been shoved to the back of his own mind and the spell had taken charge.
A voice murmured "jump onto the desk".
Immediately Harry's voice answered "yes I will" and he made ready to jump.
At that moment though another voice asked sensibly "why?".
This gave him pause. Why indeed would he want or need to jump onto the desk?.
"Jump onto the desk" the voice came again "jump onto the desk" it repeated over and over.
Again Harry made to do so but the voice of reason was back "you don't need to obey you know. There's no need to jump onto the desk".
Moody's voice continued to resonate in his mind "jump onto the desk".
The voice of reason said "don't listen".
Harry decided to concur with said voice "no" he said in his mind "I don't think I will. I don't need to or want to".
Harry made the decision "no I won't jump on the desk".
Just then he felt a blinding pain in his kneecaps.
The spell began to lift and he looked down at his legs.
It seemed that he'd both went to jump and blocked himself from jumping with the result that he'd crashed into the desk knees first.
The pain was considerable "ow!" he said aloud.
"Good work Potter, very good!" said Moody approvingly as he helped him up.
Harry glanced at Moody who was looking round at the other students "Harry here has done exactly the sort of thing I expect" he said "I do not expect any of you to throw the spell off fully as yet but doing something such as Harry did is a good way to throw it partially off".
Moody tapped the side of his head "always try to listen to this. It will guide you well in throwing off the spell" he told them.
Just then, the bell rang to signal the end of the lesson and the end of the school day.
Moody called out "I want three foot of parchment on the effects of Imperio by next lesson and ways to block the curse from taking full effect".
As they headed back up to Gryffindor Tower Harry rubbed his knees which still hurt "I hope we don't have to go through that again" he grumbled.
The others agreed.
It had been a most bizarre lesson indeed. Not that Harry was shocked of course. Moody was after all a very unique individual.
Authors Note: This chapter is shorter than the last but I didn't want it to overrun too much as it would if I include anything else.
The next chapter will go from the beginning of October and will see pranks by the New Marauders and Fred and George and Lee Jordan, Hogsmeade, the arrival of the students from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, a shock and an argument.
Don't forget to keep reviewing as it helps me improve. Thanks for your continued support.