V. An Unforgivable Act
It was now Thursday, the first one of the new school year in Hogwarts. Students were still trying to find their classes, mainly the first years, but most had already adjusted to the times and who their teachers were – including the large amount of homework that followed those classes. The Doctor had visited Ravenclaw that morning before breakfast, which was the first time Rose saw him that morning. She could tell that even for a Time Lord he was tired and needed to at least relax, but Snape was enjoying trying to get him to do as many shifts as he could. Rose expressed her worry to Professor McGonagall that morning who agreed to talk to Dumbledore about it.
That morning at breakfast the Doctor barely ate, just took a few drinks of his juice and a few nibbles of his food. Rose offered to take over his duty for the early block, but the Doctor kindly turned down her offer. Rose being Rose stubbornly followed him through the rest of the day, joining the Gryffindor students for their first Defense Against the Dark Arts class. She felt a bit uneasy, being in the class with the man that saved her life. However the Doctor assured that it was a wonderful time for her to thank him for his act and ask if he needed to be repaid in any way.
The Doctor and Rose met with the anxious class before the lesson was to start, taking seats in the back of the room. Harry, Hermione and Ron had taken their seats in the front – closest to the teacher's desk – with their books The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-ProtectionThe Doctor found it oddly amusing someone bothered to write a book about it, but then with the false sense of security people had built around the thought that the Dark Arts weren't used anymore, it made an odd since of ironic humor. While he mused on the fact Rose simply sat behind him watching the fourth years.
The familiar clunking as Mad-Eye Moody walked into the room. He glanced at the Doctor on his way in with his normal eye, but his magical one swirled to Rose, who in turn raised her hand and smiled with a wave. Moody faulted for a moment but continued on. "You won't need those books, put them away!" he barked at the class, who obediently put them away and waited anxiously. He took the roll call, one eye on the paper while the magical one went about meeting eye contact with who he called off. Finally he addressed where the class was standing.
"Professor Lupin has told me you are very versed in the ways of dark creatures such as boggarts and so on." Moody explained (and the Doctor smiled at the mention of Lupin). "However you are horribly behind on your curses, something I'll be fixing by the time the year is done. Hopefully the next teacher will continue…."
"What are you not staying?" Ron said out of turn. Moody's eye swerved to look at him.
"No," he said. "I have come out of retirement for this one year on behalf of Dumbledore's request." He paused. "You're Arthur's boy aren't you? Good man your father is, he got me out of a nasty snag a few days ago. Now, back to the lesson." His eye turned to Rose and the Doctor for a moment. "We will be talking about Curses. Ministry says to leave it at counter curses, but those buffoons don't know what it is like out there." The class gave a shared shudder.
"Now what I'm going to be showing you isn't supposed to happen till your sixth year, but I think you need it now." He continued on and pulled out a jar filled with spiders. "You need to know how to fight the spells now, and a Dark Wizard isn't going to be nice about it. He won't ask if you want a curse, he'll do it to you before you'd know what would happen to—Miss Brown, put that away!" he snapped as his eye focused on her. Lavender Brown blushed and put her finished horoscope away. "Thank you."
"Alright you lot," Moody continued. "Which one of you knows the curses that receive the highest punishment from the wizard laws?" Many hands shot up into the air – and to all the students surprise this included Neville. The Doctor leaned against the back wall now, his hands in his pant pockets as he looked over the class. Rose sat beside him, her head tilted with a perplexed expression plastered on her face. Moody's magical eye landed on Ron.
"Er….Dad told me about one, a while ago," Ron said slowly. "I think it was called the Imperius Curse…or something like that at least."
"….yes, I suppose your father would know about that one….gave the Ministry real trouble," the eye swung to the Doctor who stood in the back. "Isn't that right, Doctor Sigma?" The Doctor's back straightened as he nodded, giving no more of a response except the tightening of his jaw and his brown eyes dulling.
Moody unscrewed the lid to the jar he had previously retrieved. Ron squirmed beside Harry, attempting to distance himself from the released spider. Rose leaned forward in her seat, glancing behind her at the rigid Doctor. She blinked, studying him before turning her head at the sudden shout of the word "Imperio" The spider suddenly shot up, swinging from its thread back and forth, reminding them of a circus performer. It then snagged from its thread, landed on its back legs and preceded to tap dance before the class. The class laughed – all very unaware at the true situation at hand, even Rose had a smile on her face.
"You all think it's funny don't you?" Moody snapped, as the spider continued to perform several tricks. "What if I placed the curse on one of you? I doubt you'd like it then." The class stopped instantly, all going very rigid – but no where near how the Doctor stood. Rose frowned and looked up at him, seeing his dull eyes transfixed on the spider, watching it perform trick after trick. Pity and sympathy had glazed his eyes as he clenched his fists in his pockets.
"The curse gives you total control," Moody continued. "During the years of the Dark Lord, many witches and wizards were under the influence of the Imperius Curse. The Ministry had a hard time sorting out who was acting and who was being controlled," he looked at the Doctor again. "Am I correct, Doctor Sigma?"
The Doctor swallowed hard. "Why are you bothering to confirm it with me?" he asked with a low and dry voice. "You were an Auror."
Moody chuckled. "Well after the little spat with Professor Binns, I would like to make sure that I have my facts straight." The class gave a slight laugh at the fact, but quickly silenced themselves as Moody turned his eyes on them.
He took a moment to answer before saying, "Yes. It did."
The class looked at one another then at the Doctor for how distant he sounded – very unlike the Doctor they had come to know within the last few days. Rose stood up beside him as Moody continued with his lesson, putting her hand on his arm. The Doctor didn't look at her, his eyes still focused on the spider that was now rolling in circles. "The Imperius Curse has a counter of course, which I will be teaching you. However it takes a great deal of character which not everyone has. It is better to avoid the hit if you can't take the curse. Constant Vigilance!" he raised his voice – and everyone including Rose jumped.
"Now then, next illegal curse?" he asked as he put the spider away. Several hands rose again. His eyes landed on Neville.
"The…Cruciatus Curse…" Neville responded.
Moody looked at him for a long moment. "You are the Longbottom boy, yes?" Neville nodded and Moody disregarded him again. "Ah yes…the Cruciatus Curse," he spoke as he scooped the next spider up and placed it on the desk. "It needs to be a bit bigger for you to understand the effect better," he pointed his wand at it and shouted. "Engorgio" the spider swelled to be bigger than a tarantula.
Rose looked over at Ron as he pushed away from the desk to be far away from the spider as he could be. She glanced up at the Doctor, who looked even more distraught at the sight of the next curse when Moody shouted "Crucio" Rose's eyes snapped back as she saw the spider ball up, rocking back and forth and all over as it twitched and withered in pain. Her eyes widened as it began to have a fit, shuddering and jumping slightly. She took a step forward as Hermione jumped from her seat.
"Stop it!" they both shrieked. Moody looked at both of them, one eye on Hermione as the magical one landed on Rose. Half the class turned to look back at the two, surprised from their outburst. However Harry and the rest of the class that looked at Hermione found that she had shrieked for Neville's well being, not the spider. He was horrified, hands clenched onto his desk, so much in fact that his knuckles had turned white. Moody took a moment to expect the boy before returning the spider to its original size and placing it back in the jar. An uneasy feeling settled in the classroom then.
Rose felt herself shaking. She'd seen things, people, be hurt before in her adventures with the Doctor, but never tortured in such a way before. She was scared to say the least, frightened that someone would have actually used such a horrible thing on another. That one was horrible, so much more than the previous thing she had seen. However as she watched the class and Moody ask for the next curse, she could see that even the students were frightened of what was to come. Hermione was called on.
"Avada Kedavra." Hermione spoke, her voice trembling as she lowered her hand. Moody's magical eye swung to the Doctor.
"Ah yes…that one." Moody brought his other eye to the Doctor. "Doctor Sigma, perhaps you would explain this one to the class?"
All eyes turned to the back of the room, silence making its home. The Doctor's dull eyes narrowed slightly at Moody, his fists clenching further in his pockets. He was dully aware that Rose was beside him with her hand on his arm, trying to comfort him. He straightened up against the wall, feeling his muscles lock to the point they strained painfully. He sucked in a short breath before looking at each student in turn as he explained.
"The Killing Curse." His voice was low and all emotions had been swept away, Rose slowly looked up at him with her wide eyes – tears undeniably there. The only time other than this she remembered him speaking in such a dead tone was when he spoke about his people, his home, being destroyed to save the others. "Instant death. No counter to it, no hope. Just death." His voice died out and the class slowly shifted to look back at their professor. The Doctor looked down at Rose as Moody began to speak again, but neither paid attention.
Rose slowly turned her head as the words "Avada Kedavra!" shouted through the classroom. In the instant from the blinding green light and rushing sound of death left the wand, the Doctor's hand snatched onto hers as if he were looking for a sturdy rock to mount himself on. The spider then simply rolled over onto its back, legs curled inside it, as it lay dead but unmarked. A moment passed before Rose realized that it was dead – and that she was shaking. Maybe he had taken her hand to help her instead of him, that was her thinking until she saw how slightly his eyes had widened and his breathing stopped.
"Only one person is known to have survived this curse," Moody explained as both his eyes fell onto Harry. "And he is sitting here. Right in front of me." The class looked at the boy, The Boy Who Lived, as he stared at the blackboard in front of him – in a daze. Rose looked at the boy before feeling herself removed from the classroom, Moody's voice muffled behind the now closed door as he instructed his class to write notes.
She turned to see him sitting against the wall on the floor, arms on his bent knees as his head hung in the distance between his chest and limbs. Rose looked around the hallway, feeling distant and almost detached from it all, but she slowly bent down beside him, putting her hand over his folded ones. It was a long moment before he responded, lifting his head slightly and one hand placing itself over hers. Rose gulped the knot down in her throat before entwining her fingers into his in attempt to give him comfort. It might have been a pitiful attempt, but it was still an attempt.
"I've seen them all before, the Unforgivable Curses they are called," he spoke softly. "If caught placing one of them on another you earn yourself a live imprisonment in Azkaban, the wizard prison." He slowly turned his head so his eyes met hers. She told him through her eyes that he didn't need to go on, he could stop, he didn't have to relive it – whatever it was, but he continued. "It was my fourth incarnation…we stumbled in, another TARDIS malfunction I suppose, and were swept away into the war, joining a secret order that fought against them – the Dark Wizards, the Death Eaters. We saw countless battles, they all used those curses on each other…and then, the Ministry gave them – the hunters – the power to cast the same curses that the dark ones had….they became what they hunted, what they feared." He looked away at the wall opposite of them, his eyes distant as he recalled memories.
"It was horrible….they all laughed as they caused them to kill one another, as they snapped into insanity and killed one another….or, when they just dropped dead. So many of them, most not knowing how to fight the curses until they had seen their friends die at the same hands they would soon die at." His head leaned back, resting against the wall behind him as he closed his eyes. He opened them again and looked down, meeting Rose's eyes as her head lay against his arm. He slipped his arm around her shoulders, holding her to him and resting his head against hers as they sat in the hallway.
She spoke sometime later, Moody's voice still droning on in the background. "It…it's really that easy, to kill something….? I mean…just like that, and …it was gone…."
"It's the same as Nanogenes, life and death are easy." He said softy, rubbing her arm. "Just start the heart and the body is living, stop it for long enough and its dead….that's just the scientific explanation of course. Philosophy doesn't accept death until the soul has departed, if you believe that every living thing has a soul that is." He raised his head as she turned to look up at him.
"What about you, Doctor?" she asked in a whisper. "Do you believe in a soul?"
He was solemn but honest. "I have seen so many deaths in my lives, Rose Tyler, I don't see how a soul can be possible…call me pessimistic if you will, but its hard to look at the brighter side of death – if there is one – when that's what you've seen so many times…." Rose went to speak but he interrupted her. "I've been in more wars than just the Time War, Rose."
Rose nodded and rested her head against him. Part of her had been slightly upset when he mentioned a 'we', but not her and him. She had known for some time that the Doctor had other companions, which he never really spoke about, but it was somewhat heart breaking to think that her Doctor had shared his TARDIS with others. A bit possessive, but it was how you were when you were close, the Doctor had been slightly jealous of temporary companions – that were men – but he would never admit it.
The bell sounded through the hallways and the two looked up as the door opened. Children exited the room, talking about the curses in amazed voices, how they twitched and rolled and died. It disturbed them both, hearing them talk about death so lightly, but that's what innocence was. Harry, Ron, and Hermione followed Neville out of the classroom in concern, but he had assured them he was fine. The Doctor and Rose sat there watching as Moody led Neville away in attempt to calm the child. The infamous trio then came to the two time travelers who sat against the wall.
"Are you alright, Doctor Sigma?" Hermione asked gently, bending down to eye level. Harry and Ron also shared their concern through their faces.
"Yea, I'll be fine." He answered but his voice lacked its normal jolliness. His dull brown eyes met the dull emerald eyes of Harry Potter. "What about you, Harry, are you alright?"
"Yes." Harry spoke, much softer and friendlier than when Moody had asked earlier. The Doctor nodded slowly before breaking eye contact and looking at Ron as he spoke.
"Moody knows his stuff, doesn't he?" Ron asked almost as if he admired the previous acts. "I mean the way he just said it – and it died, and it –" he stopped in his sentence as he saw the glares from the people around him, mainly from Harry and the Doctor. But Rose and the Doctor stood, accompanying them to the Great Hall for dinner.
The next week passed quickly for some, slower for others. For Rose it seemed to alternate between both, despite the fact she wasn't a student. She had finally convinced the Doctor to sleep a full night. When Snape arrived at their door that Sunday to demand that the Doctor be on his shift, Rose told him off. The Doctor was still in the last phase of his regeneration illness, and was over taxing himself in taking care of the students at the school as he sent complaints to the Ministry. Snape had left in a silent fit. Dumbledore had also spoken to the Doctor the following Tuesday about the outburst he had in the History of Magic class, in which the Doctor apologized. They agreed that it would be best for the Doctor to not sit in on any of those classes, being the Time Lord that he was. The same evening Rose and the Doctor received a surprise as Hagrid announced to the two at dinner that he had been successful in "getting their large blue box" onto school grounds. Rose was amazed that the TARDIS was moveable, but the Doctor assured it was. Hagrid himself had seen to it that it sat next to his hut until Dumbledore could secure a safe place for it.
"Don't understand the box myself," he spoke as the Doctor and Rose inspected the TARDIS. "But whatever pleases ya."
It was the next morning when Rose was singled out by Hermione who raged on about 'SPEW'. Rose herself wasn't able to understand what she was talking about and kindly turned the girl down. But the Doctor explained to her about the House Elves inside the school and how Hermione was adamant about giving them better treatment. Rose agreed to a degree with her, but that was only after the Doctor then explained that it was how the race had lived since they could remember – serving others, and they loved it. It left Rose in a hard position, but she bought a badge from Hermione and promised to promote the idea when she could.
However it was Thursday again. And despite the Doctor's strong distaste for wanting to return to any Defense Against the Dark Arts classes to 'watch over', he went along. He and Rose stood atop the stairway that led to the office, watching the class below as Moody moved the desks with a wave of his wand, explaining that he would be placing each student under the Imperius Curse. Before he could, Hermione had objected to it.
"That's illegal!" she said, watching as the desks moved away. "If you use it against another human you can…."
Moody's eye stopped her as it swung to meet her gaze. "Dumbledore wants you to know what its like," he grumbled. "Now Miss Granger if you would rather wait until you are under the Curse yourself one day, then I think you should be out on your way." He pointed a finger to the door, but Hermione stayed, not wanting to miss any lesson of the sort.
"Would he really?" Rose whispered to the Doctor as the class stood together in the back of the room. "Would Dumbledore really allow that?"
"If he were to think it necessary, than yes." He answered.
The two watched from above as one by one the students seemed to fail the test Moody set upon them. They didn't fight against the curse; instead they did silly things under the influence of it all. Every time the incantation was called out, the Doctor would stiffen. Rose had finally taken his hand and kept a hold of it on the marble railing, rubbing her thumb on the back of his hand. He met her gaze through the corner of his eyes for a moment before looking back at the class as Moody called out Harry's name.
The incantation was shouted. Rose leaned forward, watching as Harry stood in a daze just like the others had. He then bent his knees as if to jump, but he seemed hesitant to do anything beyond that. When he went to jump onto the desk in front of him he also tried to stop himself, only succeeding to ram his knees into the desk corner. He fell down, dazed, and seemed to wake up a moment later withering in slight pain. Rose moved to be at his side, but the Doctor held her hand firmly.
"He almost did it," he said softly to her, looking at Harry as he stumbled up. "He almost beat it."
Moody seemed to be pleased as well. "That's more like it, Potter!" he shouted out to the class. "Did you all see that? Potter fought against it! And damn it he nearly beat it! We'll be doing this again, Potter, now the rest of you watch what he does! You can tell when someone is fighting against the curse by the look in their eyes, I want you to watch!"
By the fourth time Moody shouted the incarnation, Rose was furious. She was sure that by now Harry had at least fractured one knee, if not both of them. The Doctor was the only keeping her from marching down the stairs and telling Moody off right then and there. However once Harry was able to through the curse off completely and wobbled back to his friends, Rose snapped her hand away from the Doctor and stormed down the stairs.
"Rose!"
The class turned and looked as Rose marched right up to Moody, the Doctor following down the stairs. As Rose approached Moody, the Doctor grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back.
"You have a problem, girl?" Moody asked, both eyes fixed on her. "Weren't you that one I saved?"
"Yea, you were!" Rose said curtly. "What the hell do you think you're doing to these kids! What if you had Harry break his legs!"
"Broken legs are nothing compared to what he could do under that curse, girl, I suggest you keep your mouth shut." Moody looked up at the Doctor. "Go on, shut her up."
"I don't have any power over her, Alastor." The Doctor warned quietly. "She can say whatever, I just have to keep her from maiming you more than you already are." A soft snicker rose from the class behind them. Moody's eye narrowed dangerously as a small smile played on the Doctor's lips. "She does have a point, though. He already proved he could fight it once, the least you could have done was tried it again after his legs were cared for. By the looks of that first knock, I'd say he fractured them the first time around."
"Are you trying to tell me how to teach my class, Doctor Sigma?" Moody growled.
"No I am trying to get you to be kinder on your students." The Doctor informed.
"The Dark Wizards won't be nice." Moody shot.
"You are not a Dark Wizard!" The Doctor shouted. The class was startled, taking a small step back from the out lash. Even Moody seemed startled by the sudden rage and furry in the Doctor's voice. The Doctor looked around at the students apologetically.
Moody walked up to them both, eyeing the two companions in turn. "I suppose you are thinking I'm making this too real, eh?" his eye shot up to the Doctor. "A bit to real and close to home for you, Doctor?" The Doctor said nothing but his jaw tightened. "You must know what it's like then, eh? Having the Imperius on you? I can tell the look in your eyes – you've experienced it."
The Doctor waited for the class to gasp in surprised – but they were too stunned too. He gave a glare and a hard voice. "It doesn't work on me, that curse." He instructed. After all, the curse was meant to work on magical and non-magical humans, not Time Lords. Moody's normal eye twitched slightly and he looked down at Rose who shook her head side to side quickly. He turned and walked a few paces away, his wooden leg giving a clunk every time.
Suddenly Moody whirled around, his wand raised and shouted: "Imperio!" The Doctor held Rose close as he moved back, unsure if the curse was aimed at him or at Rose. The students took a step back (Ron helping Harry back). The whole class seemed to stand still – and if the Doctor was not a Time Lord he would have been sure that time itself stopped in that moment. He held his breath, waiting for voice of Moody to come into his mind and bark an order, which would only be repelled by the Doctor's superior mind structure. But it never came. He distantly wondered for a moment if the curse had failed, or if they had dodged it in time.
The girls in the class shrieked suddenly as Rose turned and tackled the Doctor to the ground. He hit the ground harshly, the students taking another step back to make sure he didn't land on him. The Doctor attempted to comprehend what had happened before but his mind snapped to the present as he found Rose's hands on his neck as she startled his hips, pinning him to the ground. In automatic defense his hands shot up to wrench her off, grabbing onto her arms and harshly pulling. He wrestled with her for another moment before swinging his body weight and rolling the two of them over so he was above her.
The class moved away again as he wrenched Rose's hands from his neck and pinned them to the floor. It didn't stop her however; she brought her knees up and kicked him off, sending him again onto his back with a thud. Rose threw herself over him again, pressing on his neck harder to cut off his breathing. Inside the Doctor smiled, with his two hearts he did not need to breathe for a while – proving chocking to be a rather ineffective way of killing him – but his concern was being able to immobilize Rose. He knew from the moment she attacked him that she had been the aim for the Imperius Curse. He knew exactly what Moody was showing the class.
And he damn near hated the man for it.
The Doctor finally pushed Rose up and got to his feet, pushing Rose against the near by wall. He pinned her feet with his, her wrists with his hands and pressed her against the wall with his weight so she was immobile. He looked her dead in the eyes, anger and a sense of danger that he knew Moody could see, and that he knew sent a quiver down Moody's spine. He felt the tension in Rose's body disappear as her eyes rolled into her head and she slumped forward, unconscious. He caught her, bending down and placing his arm under her knees and picking her up. He turned, looking at the frightened class, and then at Moody.
"I'll warn you once, Alastor, and only once." His voice was dark and deadly, sending a shiver down the spine of every student. "If you ever, ever, pull that again I will make sure you pay." He walked forward with every word, peering down at the man in front of him. "And if I have to," he whispered in a deadly voice, "I'll be the one to do it." With that he turned on his heal and swiftly left the classroom without a word to any student, hearing Moody's words behind him:
"That's why you have to know! That exact thing can happen to anyone you know, to you! You must know how to throw the curse off so that does not happen!"
The Doctor paid no attention to the words, walking past the students in the halls and paintings and ghosts as he headed to the fourth floor, holding Rose close to him. The only thing in his mind was to make sure she would be fine.