PART ONE ( EYE OF THE HURRICANE ) CHAPTER ELEVEN:
011 || One Way Ticket To Azkaban
"in which aurelia black has a great right hook . . ."
MOST, IF NOT all of her friends, are excited for Professor Moody's lesson, however Aurelia's anything but. After what he had done to her brother, they way he had looked like he wanted to murder her for defending her brother who was in pain, terrified her. She'd do anything to skip his lesson. Since her friends, for whatever reasons, are so excited for Professor Moody's lesson, she keeps her disdain about it to herself but Neville, of course, can see that she's unnerved about something.
"Are you alright, Ari," Neville asks as Aurelia and Hermione try to teach him a Scouring Charm.
Aurelia nods "I'm fine, why?"
"You don't look fine, you look nervous."
"I'm not nervous." Aurelia replies shortly, "Besides, shouldn't I be the one asking if your alright, I'm not the one who had to dismember a barrel of toads the previous night."
"I — I'm fine," He stammers, he's still shaken up about it. And he most certainly isn't fine. Which makes Aurelia very angry, she's determined to make Professor Snape's life hell for the next month.
"You know why Snape's been in a foul mood, don't you," Ron mumbles to Harry who nods.
"Moody," Harry says, which is probably true. Moody likes to go after shady people whether he's on the job or not, and Snape is a shady dude.
Still, Aurelia thinks, it doesn't give him a right to take it out on literal children.
"Nah, it's 'cause he's a foul git," Aurelia replies, "Moody should turn him into a ferret, he's the one who bloody well deserves it."
Harry and Ron snicker at the thought and Harry says thoughtfully: "I reckon Snape's a bit scared of him, you know."
"Imagine if Moody turned Snape into a horned toad." Ron says gleefully, "And bounced him all around his dungeon. . ."
"I'd give the entire Malfoy and Black family vaults to see that and it'd be worth it." Aurelia sighs blissfully, "But then who would deal with Moody because he deserves it to after what he did to my brother. Don't give me that look, Ron!"
"Malfoy deserved what he got," Ron still insists.
"Not that, absolutely not," Aurelia disagrees, "I would've placed Draco under the dancing jinx and then given him a month's worth of detention. What Moody did was fucking foul, he could've kill my brother bouncin' him around like in such a small form."
Ron and Harry give her annoyed looks and she scowls at them, they don't get it and Aurelia guesses she gets it because her brother is terrible to them so she lets it go. Out of everyone, she guesses she can let those two continue to think what Moody did was funny and Hermione, but she doesn't seem to find it as funny as they do.
Aurelia looks back at Neville who looks a lot happier now that his fingernails had been cleaned, a surge of anger courses through her veins as she thought of what it must've been like for him to have spent hours upon hours of disembowelling toads. Fuck, Professor Snape, he's a little asshole.
"Are you sure you're alright," Neville asks again, seeing the troubled look on Aurelia's face.
"Something about Professor Moody scares me, I know Fred and them said he was amazing but something about Moody ain't right," She rambles nervously.
Neville grabs her hand, squeezing it reassuringly as he tells her: "Don't wor — worry, Ari, besides he can't be as bad as Lockhart."
"You're right, you're right," She sighs, smiling nervously, "Nothing could be as bad as that."
Feeling slightly better about the lesson, her and Neville head up to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Harry and Ron follow behind them. Along the way, Ron and Harry eagerly discuss what the lesson might be about. Their theories do nothing to sooth her nerves, so she keeps a tight hold on Neville's hand in hopes of keeping herself grounded. That also does little to help her. When they arrive, Neville and Aurelia sit down at a table next to Olivia and Hannah, it's not long until they hear Professor Moody's distinctive clunking footsteps coming down the corridor. He enters the room, looking as frightening as ever.
"You can put those away," He growls as he stamps over to his desk and sits down, "Those books. You won't need them."
Putting her book away, Aurelia doesn't know whether to feel more nervous or feel slightly giddy. When Professor Lupin had told the class they wouldn't need their books it had usually followed by something exciting. Professor Moody takes out a register and starts calling out names, his normal eye moving steadily down the list whilst his magical eye swivels around, fixing upon students as they answer.
"L — Malfoy, Asterope," He calls out her name, there's a tone of malice that's different from his normal tone of voice.
"Here," Aurelia replies meekly, her stomach twists with nerves as he glares at her a moment longer then he continues on with the list, she wants out of this class already. This not going to be a good lesson she can tell. Her palms start to sweat and her heart starts to race, he's nothing like Nym had described.
"Right then," He says, when the last person had declared themselves present, "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's a general murmur of assent.
"But you're behind — very behind — on dealing with curses. 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 blurts out.
Moody's magical eye spins around to stare at Ron and then, surprisingly, Moody smiles. A smile which makes his heavily scarred face look more twisted and contorted than ever. A smile which unnerves Aurelia "You'll be Arthur Weasley's son, eh," Moody questions, "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."
Oh, thank fucking Merlin!
He gives a harsh laugh, then claps 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."
From behind her Aurelia hears a chair scraping against the floor and she assumes it's Lavender Brown who's probably trying to act like she hasn't done anything wrong.
"So . . . Do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by wizarding law?"
Well, shit, Aurelia thinks, this can't be good!
Several hands rise tentatively into the air. Professor Moody points at Ron, although his magical eye stays fixed on Lavender.
"Er — my dad told me about one . . . Is it called the Imperius Curse, or something?"
"Ah, yes," Professor Moody says appreciatively, "Your father would know that one. Gave the Ministry a lot of trouble at one time, the Imperius Curse," Professor Moody gets up on his feet, opened his desk drawer, and takes out a glass jar. Three large black spiders are scuttling around inside it. He reaches into the jar, catches one of the spiders, and holds it in the palm of his hand so that class can see it. He then points his wand at it and mutters, "Imperio!"
The spider leaps from Professor Moody's hand on a fine thread of silk and begins to swing backward and forward as though on a trapeze. It stretches out its legs rigidly, then does a back flip, breaking the thread and landing on the desk, where it begins to cartwheel in circles. Professor Moody jerks his wand, and the spider rises onto two of its hind legs and went into what's unmistakably a tap dance.
Everyone starts laughing, Aurelia doesn't, she can't bring herself too. She supposes it might be a funny sight to see but she knows that the Imperious Curse isn't funny, she had been placed under it many times when she was in the care of her parents. Her father used it to keep her in line but she had eventually built up an immunity to it and had become practically useless to him.
"Think it's funny, do you," He growls, "You'd like it, would you, if I did it to you?"
The laughter dies away almost instantly.
"Total control," He says quietly as the spider balls itself up and begins to roll over and over, "I could make it jump out of the window, drown itself, throw itself down one of your throats."
Aurelia feels sick, what the fuck was wrong with him?!
"Years back, there were a lot of witches and wizards being controlled by the Imperius Curse," Professor Moody explains, "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!"
Everyone jumps and Aurelia even falls out of her chair, it goes unnoticed by everyone as they're so absorbed in the lesson. She quickly climbs back onto the chair before anyone does. Moody picks up the somersaulting spider and throws it back into the jar "Anyone else know one? Another illegal curse?"
Hermione's hand flies into the air again and so does Neville's.
Oh no, Aurelia thinks, oh no, oh fuck.
Neville even looks surprised at his own daring. Aurelia can feel her heart racing, her stomach is twisting so violently she think she might throw up. She should have just walked out of that class the second Professor Moody had mentioned the Unforgivable Curses.
The professor's magical eye rolls over to fix on Neville "Yes?"
Olivia glances over at Aurelia, a look of concern on her face. Aurelia's visibly shaking and paler than usual. Hannah, who's sitting with Olivia seems to notice Aurelia's odd behavior as well as Neville's.
"There's one — the Cruciatus Curse," Neville says in a small voice.
Professor Moody looks at him, intently with both eyes "Your name's Longbottom?"
Neville nods nervously, and the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor turns his back to the class as he reaches into the jar, pulling out another spider.
"The Cruciatus Curse . . ." Professor Moody begins, ". . . Needs to be a bit bigger for you to get the idea . . . Engorgio!"
At this point Aurelia has dug her nails so deeply into her palms, that they're starting to bleed, she squeezes her eyes shut as the Professor raises his wand once again.
"Crucio," Professor Moody mutters.
Her father standing over her, a look of horror on his face as his eyes dart between his wand and her crumbled body.
Aunt Bellatrix pointing her crooked wand at Joseph MacDonald, while snarling: "How dare you threaten her! CRUCIO —"
Goyle laughing maniacally as she points her wand at Aurelia screaming "Cru — CIO!"
It's all there, right in front of her eyes.
She can almost feel the pain of the Curse burning through her body. MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP! Aurelia's body's shaking badly, and there are tears pricking the corner of her eyes. The Death-Eater's right in front of her — so close, too close. Aurelia's going to die. Goyle's going to kill her.
"No, no, no, no, no," Aurelia mutters, this can't be real. Goyle can't be here. I can't be there.
You're at Hogwarts, Aurelia closes her eyes and grips the edge of her desk tightly, you are at Hogwarts. She feels eyes burning into the top of her skull. When she looks up, Goyle's still there but she seems to be closer now. No, no, no, no.
"Do you actually think that someone's going to help you, Wolfie?" Goyle croons.
Aurelia lets out a strangled cry of: "No!"
"Pathetic — Ari, are you — but, I do love it when — alright? — they put up a — Ari, what's wrong? — fight!"
Aurelia feels someone — Goyle! Or maybe Rowle! She's going to kill me! They're going to kill me! — grab her arm but she yanks it back and then punches in the general direction of where they should be. There's no shrill shriek likes she expects but a collective gasp and a boy muttering: "Bloody hell!"
"Neville, are you alright," Seamus' Irish accent cuts through her panicked thoughts.
Neville? What happened to Neville, did she — did they — No. Goyle's gone, Aurelia realises and she was probably never there, what the fuck is wrong with her?
Aurelia blinks, you are at Hogwarts. You are safe. You just had one of those again. Stupid girl, she scolds herself, how could she possibly think that Goyle had been there. Aurelia looks at Neville, who's holding the side of his face — Holy shit, I punched him! Oh, Merlin! What have I done?!
He looks horrified — Of her? Of the lesson? Aurelia's not sure which but she feels terribly guilty. She opens her mouth to apolgise but no sound comes out, her mind is still reeling from what she had went through. What's wrong with her? Besides possibly having Hyperthymesia, the Muggle doctor had never found anything wrong with her when she had visited. Then again, her twelve-year-old self hadn't been very forthcoming about her troubles, because at the root of them all lies the terrible fact she had been attacked by a werewolf, and werewolves aren't real according to Muggles.
"— Yes, the last and the worst. Avada Kedavra . . . The Killing Curse."
A chill runs down Aurelia's spine as she recalls the bright green light that had almost killed her.
Professor Moody pulls out the third spider and Aurelia wants to scream at him to stop but she finds herself frozen in her spot, unable to get the protest out. He raises his wand "Avada Kedavra!"
The blinding green light seems to snap Aurelia out of her dazed state. The spider dies instantaneously and a sob forces its way out of her throat, hot tears slide down her cheeks. That had almost been her. She could imagine her body lying there, dead as can be, if she tried hard enough but she doesn't want to so she forces herself to look away.
"Not nice, not pleasant. And there's no countercurse. There's no blocking it. Only two known people have ever survived it, and they're sitting right in front of me," Moody says calmly, referring to Harry and Aurelia, although both his eyes are locked on Harry. She hadn't really survived the Killing Curse, that had just been a rumour.
"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," Moody explains.
Aurelia shudders, glancing at Neville. He still looks horrified as he watches Professor Moody drone on about the Unforgivable Curses, the one side of his face is really red. She did that. She hurt him. You horrible, stupid girl! She scolds herself, you —
"— CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"
Aurelia jumps in her seat, letting out a frightened gasp.
"Now . . . These three curses — Avada Kedavra, Imperius, and Cruciatus — are known as the Unforgivable Curses. Any use of them will earn you a one-way ticket to Azkaban," Professor Moody growls, giving Aurelia a pointed look.
Go choke on a dick, Aurelia thinks, glaring at him.
"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. . . ."
For the rest of the lesson, no one speaks. Once they're dismissed, Neville and Aurelia scurry out the classroom like mice running from a hungry cat. Aurelia apologises profusely to Neville as they hurry down the corridor but Neville doesn't say anything. They come to an halt in a passage way just off to the side of the classroom. It's not far enough from Moody, by Aurelia's standards, but it'll do for now.
"Neville, I — I'm sorry. I did — didn't mean to hit you, I —" She cuts herself off, does she tell him what really happened despite the probability of him thinking she's crazy. Neville stares at the wall in front of them with a horrified, wide-eyed look. She realises, at this moment, he probably doesn't care that she hit him, he had just witnessed the same dark curse that had taken his parents away from him, he must be traumatised.
"Nev, are you alright?" Aurelia asks gently, "Maybe, we can go to the greenhouses, that might help take your mind off things."
Neville looks at Aurelia but he doesn't look at her, his eyes are still focused on something far away, brimming with tears. She wonders if he remembers the night his parents had been attacked — was he even there? Is he having one of those things that she gets. Gently and slowly, she takes his hand into her and traces patterns on his surprising smooth palm.
"Neville, Blue," Hermione asks gently as she approaches them, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be," Aurelia asks defensively, now they must think something's really wrong with her.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione stare at her skeptically.
"Neville," Hermione asks again.
Neville blinks as he looks at his three friends "Oh, hello," he says in an unnaturally high voice, "Interesting lesson, wasn't it? I wonder what's for dinner, I'm — I'm starving, aren't you?"
"Neville, are you alright?"
"Oh, yes! I'm fine!" Neville says squeezing Aurelia's hand as he looks around at them, "Very interesting dinner — I mean, lesson — what's for dinner?"
"Neville, what —"
Hermione's question gets cut off by Professor Moody who approaches the group. He places a hand on Neville's shoulder and speaks in a surprisingly soft growl: "It's alright, sonny."
He looks at Neville than at Aurelia "Why don't you two come up to my office? . . . We can have a cup of tea."
Neville looks even more frightened at the prospect of tea with Moody, he neither moves nor speaks.
"We can't, Nev and I — no," Aurelia exclaims, stammering nervously, she'd rather have tea with her Grandmother Druella — who had put poison in Aurelia's tea on more than one occasion, might she add — than with Professor Moody.
But, Professor Moody ignores her as he turns his magical eye on Harry "You alright, are you, Potter?"
"Yes," Harry replies quickly.
"You've got to know. It seems harsh, maybe, but you've got to know. No point pretending . . . Well . . . Come on, Longbottom, Malfoy I've got some books that might interest you."
Both, Aurelia and Neville look to the trio of Gryffindors for help but they say nothing and they have no choice but to follow Professor Moody up to his office. Professor Moody invites them into his office, he starts the tea right away and Aurelia prays this visit will be quick. Aurelia and Neville are squeezing their hands so tightly, they've both gone slightly numb. They refuse to let go of each other, feeling too uneasy about being in the professor's company, they're the only comfort they have.
Professor Moody's magical eye locks onto their intertwined hands and an unnerving smile stretches across his scarred face "Good friends, huh? Sprout's told me all about you two, thick as thieves, she says," He says gruffly.
Neville becomes slightly less tense as he slowly nods his head "We're best friends."
Professor Moody changes the subject "I knew your parents." he states, smile growing slightly wide before turning into a frown, "Shame what happened to them, they were exceptional Aurors, I would know as I taught them everything they knew — and here you are befriending the niece of the woman who tortured your parents."
"Would they have cared," Neville asks.
Aurelia grows tense, this answer can literally destroy their friendship, she steals a quick glance at Neville, the expression isn't one of curiosity like she expects but rather one of defiance. A rare look for Neville Longbottom.
Aurelia remembers what Alice had said in St. Mungo's how her aunt had used her to gain their trust and while Mae had denied that, Aurelia wonders if it's true and if so would Moody know. Oh, Merlin, what if he knows and this how not only Neville finds out but she finds out too. And —
Professor Moody lets out short, harsh laugh "We'll never know their real answer to that, sonny, but your parents were rebels, especially your mother, my answer's that: if anything they'd encourage your forbidden friendship here."
Well, that's certainly a plot twist. Still, Aurelia remains on edge, something about Moody doesn't feel right.
Neville grips her hand tightly.
Professor Moody places cups of tea in front of the two of them, Aurelia doesn't dare touch hers. Her stomach feels sick, she's not sure she likes where this conversation is going.
"Ari's my best friend, my mum likes her. She sat by her bed the whole time she was at St. Mungo's." Neville says, smiling at Aurelia.
"Your mother liked her aunt too," Professor Mood says bluntly.
Neville chokes on his tea "What do you mean by liked?"
Aurelia's eyes widen in alarm, she never knew this. Mae didn't say anything about them being friends, what the fuck, they were friends?! How could somebody betray a friend like that, Aurelia couldn't comprehend it. And if Bellatrix was uncaring enough to betray them than means she would uncaring enough to use her own infant niece against them and this is where Aurelia finds out that she's all to blame for what happened to the Longbottoms, she inhales sharply.
"Your father did too, they thought Bellatrix could be trusted. They were friends as well, when they were younger, the three of them had been the best of friends. Look what happened to them. They were best friends like you and Malfoy are. You should watch your back, Longbottom," Professor Moody says harshly.
"Why would I need to watch my back," Neville asks, "Lestrange's in Azkaban."
Oh, you sweet, innocent child. Aurelia knows what's coming next but Neville's got no idea. Sweet Neville. Aurelia thinks, he's too kind for someone like me.
"Your parents didn't watch their backs with Bellatrix and she stabbed them. In all due time, Malfoy'll do the same to you."
A cold chill runs through her body but she's never felt so angry with a teacher before. She'd never hurt Neville. Never.
"No, she — she won't. Ari's my best friend. I trust her with my life," Neville says defensively but he's shaking nervously in his seat.
"I wouldn't make that mistake if I were you, you wouldn't want to end up like your parents. Malfoy'll stab you in the back when you least expect it, just like her —"
Aurelia shoots out of the chair, her hair and face red with anger, there's a fiery feeling she's never felt before coursing through her veins. There are so many things she'd like to say to Moody but her brain can't seem to string a coherent sentence together, she's so angry.
So, Aurelia screams loudly, slamming her fist on his desk and spilling her hot, untouched tea all on her shoes which only makes her scream louder because it burns.
"FUCK YOU!"
And she stomps out of his office, knocking things over for good measure as she takes her leave.