Last Time on Black and White:
"I mean I don't know, only you know the answer to that but I can tell you most wizarding children grew up with that." they stated.
"This is so wrong on so many levels." Andrew muttered as he pulled open the book.
"You're still going to read it?" they asked in confusion.
That gave Andrew a pause. "Why did I skip over that in the law books?! Listen, I'm going to the Library I'll catch you around!" Andrew shouted as he charged out of the room, leaving the Slytherin alone and confused.
Book 4 – Chapter 6: The Unforgivables
Andrew was a man on a mission, he needed to look into the laws of using a person(s) image without said person(s) consent. Suddenly some of Lockhart's behaviour made a semblance of sense.
"Thinking of which, I wonder how he's doing."
Finally arriving he brushed passed Madam Prince who looked like she wanted to say something but chose to keep to herself. Andrew made a beeline for the Law section of the library and found the books he wanted to look at. Grinning madly he sat a desk and placed the nine books down beside him and proceeded to soak up information.
"Mr Potter!"
Andrew looked up in shock.
"Yes ma'am?" he responded innocently.
"It's near curfew. I need to close up the library." she informed him.
Looking around, Andrew was completely shocked to see that he was in fact alone in the Library. Thinking quickly he answered the librarian.
"Of course, sorry ma'am. By the way could I take these books with me? I'll be returning them as soon as I've finished with them." he asked with the kindest smile he could muster.
Madam Prince, didn't look to be in the mood to check them out. "Yes fine, I'll allow it, now off to your common room.
"Thank you ma'am." he said, quickly casting the levitation charm on them and headed off to his personal library... well, co-personal.
He entered and sat down and once again, began reading.
HP-AP-HP-AP-HP-AP-HP
Morning came and Harry and his friends all met up in the common room before headed down to breakfast.
"Morning, where's Andrew?" Hermione asked with a frown.
"Not sure." Harry said with a frown. "We thought he'd be asleep down here." he answered with a small shrug.
"Hey, where are you?" he asked through the link.
"Busy."
"Yeah... where?"
"Don't worry about that, I'll be back before the prefects do their rounds."
"Andrew, it's 7am."
"What? No... Ah Shit! Holy hell! Okay, I'll meet you in the Great Hall!"
Harry sighed. "Come on, guys let's go." he said.
"What about Andrew?" Hermione asked.
"Don't worry about him, I'm sure we'll meet up with him soon, probably just got himself in something he's really crazy about." he said with a shrug.
Ron nodded but Hermione seemed a bit more concerned, although she did believe Andrew wouldn't do anything stupid enough to actually get himself in trouble.
Soon they were in the Great Hall enjoying their breakfast when Andrew burst into the room, his hair sticking up at odd angles and his uniform the messiest it's ever been.
"What the hell happened to you?" Ron asked once the boy sat down.
"Busy." he replied quickly, loading his plate with food.
"Busy with?" Hermione asked.
"Law."
The bushy haired girl didn't seem too happy about that response.
"Andrew!" she said angrily.
"What?"
"What were you busy with?" she demanded.
Sighing; Andrew answered, "I was reading up on misuse of personal image. Harry and I have an entire book series out there about us; but we didn't publish them nor were we asked permission to use our names. That's a violation of our personal image. Unless we give consent to the author or in this case – authors, all of their stories are technically illegal."
"Seriously?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, and it's been going on for years, remember when we boarded the train the first time, Tonks told us she'd read all about our adventures? It's those god damn books."
"But I mean, that isn't a bad thing is it? It's not like they're making you guys out to be the bad guys." Ron asked with a confused look.
"No, but how long will it take before someone does decides to do just that? If we don't take control of this situation now, it'll only get out of hand later on." Andrew responded.
Harry seemed to think on it a bit.
"You're right. The best thing to do now is get ourselves out of any potential trouble."
"You do know, people won't be happy right? They grew up with these stories. Myself included, suddenly wanting to sue the people who wrote them are going to make you two look like the bad guys." Ron said.
"Maybe, but it isn't their reputation on the line. It's ours." Andrew replied.
HP-AP-HP-AP-HP-AP-HP
"Why haven't they fixed my schedule yet?" Andrew muttered as he moved his hand away from the weird mouth thing the Screwts had.
"You're dropping Care?" Greengrass asked.
"Yeah. I don't see any use for it in my future." Andrew replied with a shrug.
"Hmm, maybe I should do the same, though... to be a Healer I need knowledge on potential Creature injuries."
"That's a shame."
"What do you plan to do after school?" Greengrass asked curiously.
"I don't know. I was in the mind of maybe doing some enchantments. That's why I took Runes, but I figure Arithmancy could come in handy as well. Hell, I heard you could create your own spells with that combination." Andrew said with a giddy smile.
Greengrass simply rolled her eyes and gave him another pellet to give to "Min" - the name Andrew dubbed the weird creature. When asked why that name, he turned to her straight faced and replied; "It's short for Abomination, well and it's weirdly small so... there, a double meaning."
Once they were finished they headed off to their next class which happened to once again be Transfiguration. Entering the class and getting to his seat Andrew pulled out his parchment and Quill and waited, not once acknowledging Su.
"What happened?" he heard in his mind, he turned to see his brother looking confused.
"We had a... disagreement."
"What did you do?"
"Why do you automatically assume I'm at fault?!" he shot his brother a frown to which Harry simply shrugged.
Sighing Andrew responded. "I don't know,but she's not responding to me much."
"Just try again, maybe she'll listen to you this time?"
"Doubtful, but I'll give it a try."
Turning Andrew faced Su. "Are you still ignoring me?" he asked.
He noticed her stiffen slightly before peeking at him from the corner of her eye.
"Come on, Su. I thought we were doing so well. What happened? Did I do something?" he asked her.
"We're in class-"
"So? McGonagall's not here yet. Besides, after class you usually rush off and probably lock yourself away in the Ravenclaw tower. So no, I need to know what I did so that I can fix it." he told her.
"It isn't a big deal." she hiss at him.
"Then you shouldn't mind telling me."
"I don't know how to deal with you!" she quietly yelled. At Andrew's confused look she sighed tiredly. "You and most of Gryffindor are too... unpredictably predictable."
"What?"
"In other words I can pretty much guess about 65% of the stuff you'll say or do, but that other 35%? It's a complete mystery. Especially your little group of friends, I mean, logically you should go get a teacher when you suspect a student of being attacked by a troll but not you lot, you headed in blindly to save them; that was predictable. But the lack of boasting from you, your brother or Weasley was unpredictable, when it got around that the three of you had saved Granger, everyone expected you to walk around with your chests puffed out, declaring your victory to all who would listen, but you all acted as if it were another ordinary day and never so much as mention the incident to anyone."
She took a breath and shook her head. "I don't know how to handle that." she admitted.
Andrew blinked and blinked twice more before shaking his head in confusion.
"And Luna?" he asked.
"What about Luna?"
"Her mention of Nargles and Crumpled-Horned Snorlacks."
"Snorkacks." she corrected.
"Exactly. She's way more eccentric than most Gryffindors." Andrew noticed her slight glare and raised his hands slightly. "Don't get me wrong, I think she's awesome and wouldn't have her be any other way; but what you just described doesn't make sense. Besides isn't predictability boring?" he asked just as their professor entered the class.
Su didn't respond and chose to rather think about what Andrew had just said, it's true that she found predictability was boring. It's one of the reasons she doesn't hangout with most other people. They fell into one of the two camps in her mind, especially the Ravenclaw's, curse the hat for placing her in a house with the least action of all the other houses. She enjoyed not being able to know what someone was about to do as long as it didn't affect her directly.
Last year had proved to her just how some situations could truly be derailed just by the actions of a few people and who lead the charge that found her not only confronting an assumed mass murderer, an actual mass murderer and Death Eater, a werewolf and the damned Minister of Magic? Andrew Bloody Potter and his merry band of misfits! In one year she was part of an unimaginable conspiracy, including potential murder and government cover ups. How the hell was she supposed to take that with a pinch of salt and pretend that it was just a normal Saturday?!
He terrified her, his actions terrified her, her own excitement after the whole ordeal terrified her! She could honestly say she had never felt more alive than during that night, and the damn near need to be in a situation like that again grew inside of her, she knew she needed to distance herself from the source of the madness, mainly her newly acquired Gryffindor friend. But if only that were the reason she chose to distance herself, then she wouldn't be feeling so... annoyed at herself right about now.
When the lesson ended Andrew grabbed her arm and faced her towards him.
"I'm not going to let this slide, I'm going to figure out why you're avoiding me, and we're going to work through this." he told her seriously before letting her go and turning to leave the room.
Su watched him walk over to Granger, Weasley and his brother and shake his head at their looks. Before smiling.
"I heard Moody's an absolute mad man, but a pretty fair teacher." he said with a grin before walking off to the Defense classroom.
HP-AP-HP-AP-HP-AP-HP
The Defense class was cold, colder than they could ever remember it being and in the front stood the scarred and apparently paranoid 'Mad-Eye' Moody. Once the class was full he looked at everyone in the class with his good while his... mechanical eye? Glanced around separately.
He said nothing, neither did the students and for a full minute no one did anything but stare, honestly more than a few students started feeling freaked out before-
"Constant Vigilance!" the man yelled out suddenly, causing many to shriek or jump back in surprise at the sudden proclamation.
"The bloody hell?!" Ron whispered tensely as he grabbed his chest hoping his heart would suddenly explode.
"Always be on alert! You never know who wants you dead or where they'll strike from! Constant Vigilance is the only thing that'll keep you alive. I'm living proof of that." Moody said gruffly as he assessed the class once more, but he paused when he saw Lavender.
"What's the matter, girlie? Don't like what you see? Well I never said I was a prize simply that I survived. I survived two wars, two Dark Lords and more than a few assassination attempts, sure they managed to take a piece here and there, but they never got the full thing, nor will they." he said darkly before leaning back up and limping back to the front of the class.
"Now, I'm not here to teach you some colourful spells that'll make you giggle when you cast 'em, but some actual knowledge and where better to start than at the top!" he turned and pulled a piece of chalk off his desk before writing on the black board behind him.
Unforgivable Curses.
"Now who can tell me what the Unforgivable Curses are?" he asked the class.
Few hands raised and one of them was unsurprisingly; Hermione.
"The unforgivable Curses are some of the worst spells ever developed. There are three in total and the punishment for using any one of them is life in Azkaban." she informed him.
Moody made a weird guttural sound that the class assumed was a sound of approval.
"Well done, Miss. Now who can tell me what the three curses are? Huh? Come now, hands up!" he said seemingly excited.
A few hands were raised and he picked out Malfoy Junior from the hands and told him to stand before delivering his answer.
"The Imperio Curse is one." he said assuredly.
"Hmm, interesting choice, Malfoy's boy I'm assuming. What does that specific spell do?"
Malfoy seemed suddenly uncomfortable.
"It's strips the one cursed of their will and forces them to perform any command the caster sets for them." he answered.
"Correct. Well, I assume being the son of one of many of the victims would give you some expertise in that regard wouldn't it?" Moody asked in a low growl. Andrew and Harry shared a look, this was something interesting they needed to look into.
"Sit down. Next one; another spell." he said while looking around and his eyes fell on poor Neville Longbottom.
"Longbottom, what's another one?" he asked the timid boy.
"Oh... Err, well, sir. The uhh... Cruciatus."
"Yes, yes. A spell designed for torture. Overexposure can have... severe consequences." the man said more morbidly this time, shooting Neville and certain look before headed over to his desk and pulling out a small spider.
"Engorgio." he muttered enlarging the spider.
He placed the spider on his desk and pointed his wand at it.
"Imperio!" he snarled and almost immediately the spider got up on two feet.
The class held their breath in anticipation before the the spider started doing a little jig. Pulling off almost impossible movements with fluid grace and precision. This strange sight caused a ripple effect and the students started laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation.
The spider jumped off the table and moved off to the side window sill where it began doing somersaults and flips and bowing after every single one. The students once again began laughing at the small creature.
"Quite the show pony, isn't he?" Moody asked with a small laugh.
This got a little more chuckles of amusement.
"What shall I have him do next, hmm? Perhaps jump out the window?" The classroom's mood suddenly dropped as the spider climbed out the open window and didn't move a single muscle to move away.
"Or maybe, have him drown himself?" Moody's voice had now gone serious, no tone of the laughter he had just been experiencing. The spider was now half way in a bowl of water, two of it's legs suspended the creature's head just above the water line, barely.
"This curse gives you the complete control over another human being, or gives them complete control over you. I've seen many cases where a member of a family was forced to kill every single person they loved while they couldn't do anything to stop it. And before you ask, a Confundus charm and the Imperio are very different, while the Confundus let's you control certain things about a person, it's more like implanting an idea in their heads. The victim still has some semblance of control; meaning they wouldn't do anything they find fundamentally wrong. Such as murder."
The listened intently as Hermione and many more started taking notes.
"The Imperio though is ruthless, making you completely complicit no matter where your opinions on certain topics lay. Also, while under the Confundus, things are kind of bleary you aren't one hundred percent sure what you're doing but you're convinced it's a good idea, but the Imperio makes you fully aware of the fact that you are nothing but a puppet in the hands of the caster, fully aware of your actions and everything you do."
There was a moment of silence as the information sunk in for the teenagers.
"So you mean to say, that man who killed the people he loves... he...?"
"Was fully aware of everything, that's right; his wife, 6 year old daughter and his infant son – all dead. Drove the poor bastard to suicide." Moody confirmed grimly.
"Then, Longbottom mentioned the Cruciatus. Let's see that one shall we." he commented darkly.
He brought the spider out once more and pointed his wand at it again.
"Crucio!"
There was a sudden screech that filled the room, it wasn't loud but very noticeable as the spider writhed in pain. It twitched and it's legs curled in on itself as if that would lessen the effects. The screaming and twitching just went on and on; it seemed as if an eternity had passed before Andrew stood and slammed his hands on the desk.
"Alright, we get it! Stop!" he yelled out angrily. Snapping the Professor out of whatever thought he had been in.
The screaming stopped at once but the spider still twitched occasionally.
"The Cruciatus Curse is the torture curse. The pain is indescribable, held under an undefined amount of time could have more than potential mental damage. I lost some good friends to that Curse, it's probably my most hated one of the three." Moody said gruffly again, this time shooting Neville a quick look before moving on.
"And who can tell me the final spell?"
No one raised their hand, until slowly but surely Hermione raised her hand. Moody nodded in her direction.
"The Killing Curse, sir." she said tensely.
With a nod, Moody turned back to the spider and once more pointed his wand at it.
"Avada Kedava!" he said as quick flash of green illuminated his wand and the spider dropped dead.
"Quick, clean and untraceable..." Moody began droning on once more but Andrew had hadn't heard him as his mind flashed.
Images of the same green flash entered his mind, cries of women, shouts from men demanding that the babies be saved. The edges around his vision started blurring slightly.
"Young master, you are in a bind, block these foul thoughts from your mind.
The sins of the father are not the son's crime, you shall learn the truth but in due time."
The voice in Andrew's mind brought him back just as he caught the last of Moody's speech.
"... There have only ever been two to survive the spell and they are both in this class right now."
Harry and Andrew turned and gave each other a look before turning back to their professor, who still seemed to regard them with something, dark. Not quite a glare but something close. He pulled out a flask and took a swig before turning away from the boys.
Just then the bell sounded and he let the students out except for Neville who he requested to talk to for a moment.
