The Unforgivable Curses
"What do you think it means?"
"Maybe he wanted to do it because he thought he was going to get done quicker and the quicker it's done, the less time he spends with you."
"Mione, you're thinking too much about it, alright. Take it from me, he's a guy, I'm a guy. I know what he's thinking. When a guy does something like that, d'you know what it means?"
"What?"
"Malfoy does have a crush on you – WHAT THE HELL ILA!"
The three friends were spending the breakfast discussing about what happened during their last Care for Magical Creatures lesson. Ila needed some second opinions about why Malfoy was acting so weird during the whole lesson. That was until she realised that one of them wasn't going to take as seriously as she wanted.
"Don't joke about that," Ila said in a low tone to Ron, who was massaging his right arm.
"Maybe I wasn't joking."
"Then stop hanging out with Ginny so much."
"Did you hear that Mione? You know what kind of friends stops you from hanging out with their siblings?"
"Ron, stop joking about things that make Ila worried," Hermione said as she read her newspaper.
"What? I'm not the one-"
"And Ila, you can't force people to stop hanging out with their family."
She scoffed, crossing her arms as Ron rolled his eyes. It only lasted for a few seconds until Ila got bored at staring at her half-eaten English breakfast and asked Hermione –
"What're you reading?"
Hermione turned the newspaper around to show Ron and Ila what she was reading. There was a picture of a familiar woman, tall, skinny, dejected.
"I don't know if you remember but your father was talking about people who went missing at the Cup Final."
"Bertha Jorkins and…"
"Lauren Dawlish," Hermione tapped the picture.
"The gold digger?"
"She's not a gold digger Ila. They only say that to make her look bad."
"Why?" Ron asked.
"Because everyone hates women," Hermione suggested. "She ended up marrying an Auror that was twenty years older than her. Not to mention everyone has something against the fact that she's a squib." Ron let out a long breath. "She was a writer for the Daily Prophet and apparently a few months before she disappeared; she was investigating" – Hermione swivelled the newspaper around and scanned to the article – "The Sisters of Heliopolis."
"DRACO! COME BACK! IT WAS A JOKE FOR FUCK'S SAKE!" The three friends turned around just to see a flash of blond walk out of the Great Hall just as the door closed. They shared a confused look before going back to the article.
"What's the Sisters of….Sisters?" Ron asked, bringing the paper closer to him.
"I don't know. I haven't heard of them before and the article doesn't talk much about them. They only talk about it how Lauren Dawlish was being 'idiotic' to investigate into something that dissolved all the back in the Middle Ages."
"So like a group of wizards then?" Ila said.
"My best guess is that they're something like the Order of Merlin."
Ron and Ila stared blankly at Hermione.
"You know…the group of wizards that wanted to help bring muggles and wizards closer? That Order of Merlin."
"So then why would they call her idiotic then?" Ila asked, taking the paper out of Ron's hands. "Just because she wasn't looking into anything recent…"
She scanned the page to find the author of the article: Rita Skeeter.
What a stupid name.
"We're going to be late for Potions, if we don't go now," Hermoine said, plucking the newspaper out of Ila's hand and packing it in her bag. "Did you guys do the homework he gave us?"
"What home – oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Ila groaned into her hands as she remembered the ripped pieces of her essay shoved at the bottom of her bin in her bedroom all the way at the Varma's house.
"Don't we have it with the Slytherins as well?" Ron asked. Ila didn't need to lift her head to know how much Ron was smiling for the first time to have a lesson with Slytherins.
No matter how many times Ila tried to convince Hermione to ditch potions, it never worked, especially since Ron was in such a great mood that, in fact.
So Ila braced herself as she stepped into the dingy dungeons where the Potion's classrooms were.
"Oh c'mon you're being dramatic," Hermione groaned, tugging at Ila's sleeve and pulling her into the classroom.
Most of the students looked up to see whether Snape had arrived. When they found it was only the last three Gryffindors, they carried on with the conversations. An interesting one was taking place on the Slytherin table, at the front. Parkinson had taken out a newspaper, and checking over Ron's shoulder, Ila found that it was the newspaper Hermione had shown them. Parkinson opened to the article about Lauren Dawlish, reading aloud to the rest of the Slytherins.
Almost automatically, Ila watched Malfoy's reaction. He looked…paler than usual. Perhaps it was the dark lighting but it looked like that if Parkinson uttered another word about the article, he was going to throw up.
The rest of the Slytherins laughed when Parkinson told them about Lauren being known to do anything she needed to do in order to get what she wanted, winking suggestively.
It wasn't fair, Ila thought. Lauren Dawlish disappeared and all that anyone could say is how much of a 'slut' she was.
It looked like Hermione was feeling the same thing as her mouth was open to reproach them when Malfoy muttered –
"I already told you Pansy can we talk about something else?"
Parkinson seemed to have not heard him, as she carried on reading the article which for some reason went in detail about what the men in her department thought of her.
"Pansy!" he said louder. "Pansy!"
"What?" she said, finally paying attention to him.
"Let's talk about something else."
"Seriously?" she said confused. "Why?"
"The woman's missing," he said, the beginning signs of irritation slipping through his cool mask. "Show a bit of respect."
"Why should I show respect for the office slut?" she retorted before going back to reading the article once more. Ila saw his fist's clench harder as she read further down.
"Parkinson," he said warningly.
"Have I done something to you?" she said, slamming the newspaper onto the table. "You're acting all bitchy for some reason."
"I'm not acting-"
"You literally shout at me for no reason and you still haven't told me where the fuck you went when Moody turned into a pug," Parkinson said defensively. At this point, the quiet chatter from the rest of the students had died down as they watched the two Slytherin's argue. "All I'm doing is reading an article. How is it my fault that she's like that? Besides it's true. We both know that my father worked with her. Do you not know what she did to him?"
Malfoy's temper sparked like an exposed electric wire, waiting to shock someone. Red blotches appeared on his pale face. "Shut up!"
"She had sex with my father just to get nowhere with her life-"
"I said shut up Parkinson!" he shouted, stepping closer to her.
"If anything, she deserves to be kidnapped, in fact, I hope she's dead!"
"WILL YOU SHUT UP YOU FUCKING IDIOT!" he yelled just as Parkinson was about to say something. Her mouth opened and closed, unsure of what to say. Fortunately, she didn't need to. "How brainless can you be to believe anything that the Daily Prophet says? She's missing, not to mention just a few weeks after her disappearance, her mother was found dead. Do you really think that was a coincidence? For once in your life have some respect. And if anything, it was your father's fault that your parents divorced," he said.
Malfoy took the newspaper and screwed it up. He then muttered a spell and soon the ball of paper was on fire. Soon after, he realised that everyone was watching their tiff, looking around the classroom before seeing the trio standing at the door.
"The fuck are you looking at?" he said scornfully, looking at Ila before sitting back down just as the fire died down.
The three took their seats at a table towards the back of the classroom, Ila's eyes lingering on Malfoy's back. He sat there, hunched forward. The room murmured once more, even some of the Slytherins talking once more. Only Parkinson and Malfoy weren't talking.
"Trouble in paradise," Ron whispered to Ila.
"Good morning fourth year," Snape announced as he entered the room, the door to the dungeon closing swiftly behind him. His cape flew with the burst of wind before collapsing elegantly as he made it to his desk. "I'm sure you have had this conversation with most of your other teachers, so I will keep this short. You are now one year away until you complete your O.W.L.S next year and because of that, it means that the content will get harder. You are in your fourth year now, so I expect you to keep up and if you cannot, you will take the necessary steps to catch up. I will not tolerate students who will not be able to get at least Es in their final examinations. I can assure you; I will have out of my class if I think you are failing. Many of my past students have been kicked out of their fourth-year classes because of their grades. I will make sure that this year will be no different," Snape said, his eye roving over to the desk at the back of the classroom. "So, for the first lesson, I want you to brew a calming draught, with the instructions for it are on page 354 of your textbook. If you have any questions…ask someone."
The loud scrapes of chairs echoed in the classroom as most students went to the ingredients cupboard at the back. Being closest to it, Ila offered to gather ingredients for her friends too. She managed to grab most of them before the rest of the students arrived, quickly taking a vial of lavender and exiting out of the cupboard all in one suave movement.
Or at least she thought it was until she bumped into someone, causing them to drop their ingredients.
"I'm so sorry about – oh," Ila said as she realised who she had bumped into.
"Go on," Malfoy said at her feet, collecting the broken pieces of glass off the floor. "Where's my apology?... Or is it because I'm a Malfoy that I don't even deserve a real apology?"
Ila scoffed at any feeling of remorse vanishing before walking off to her table, dropping all their ingredients onto the table.
"What did he want?" Ron asked.
"An apology," Ila said as she checked the instructions for the Calming Draught.
The two hours spent in the dungeons with the Slytherins went by quicker than Ila had expected. There were only ten minutes left until the bell rang for the next lesson. Unfortunately for Ila, it meant she didn't have enough time to start all over again.
Checking her textbook, the instructions clearly stated that the potion should be a periwinkle, with a pearl sheen on the surface. Ila checked Hermione's potion, which was similar to what was shown in the textbook, before checking hers.
"Why does your one look like mud?" Ron asked bluntly, wrinkling his nose at the sight of her potion. She quickly shielded her cauldron away from his view.
"It doesn't look mud thank you very much," Ila insisted, sticking her nose up in the air.
"Smells like it," Ron said, shrugging his shoulders before going back to his own potion. A bout of helplessness washed over her, as she stared at her cauldron, a brown bubble popping.
It's not like she liked potions but she knew if Snape saw this, it would be hell. Ila glanced at the floor, wondering if it would be a good idea to stow her potion underneath the table. She looked up, to see that Snape was starting to look at people's potions and criticising them. Or in the case of Neville's make him close to breaking down. She only had a few minutes.
"Ila you keep bumping into me," Hermione said.
"Oh, sorry," Ila said distractedly, scribbling down all the possible excuses she could make to explain why her potion, cauldron, ingredients and Bunsen burn had disappeared.
"Why do you have 'a goblin apparated into the classroom and ruined your potions without you realising' written down?" Hermione inquired, checking over Ila's shoulder. "Also, you do know it's impossible for anyone to apparate in with all the wards in place?"
Ila sighed, crossing her latest excuse off her list.
"Wasn't it obvious from the title?" Ila said, pushing the paper towards her. In big capital letters at the top of the page were the words: ILA POTTER'S LIST OF EXCUSES TO USE FOR FOURTH YEAR!
"What kind of list is this?" Hermione exclaimed, staring at Ila.
"Oh, you already started making yours?" Ron asked to which Ila nodded.
"Thought I'd get a head start."
"Already falling behind?"
"You've seen my potions," Ila said disgruntled. "I need to find a way to hide it before Snape comes and tears mine apart."
"Hang on, do you mean to say that every year you've come up with a list about different excuses you can tell the professors?" Hermione said, her voice rising in octaves.
"Obviously," Ron snorted. "You can't make the same excuses every year Mione, that's how they'll catch you out."
"Or you could just…I don't know, do your homework?"
"Seriously Hermione, is this hill you're going to die on?" Ila asked rhetorically. "We have bigger problems to deal with now like what exactly am I going to do with my sludge!"
"Fortunately for you Potter, there is only one solution for your…sludge."
Ila cringed as the three turned in the direction of the vapid voice, to find their greasy-haired Professor standing in front of their table, looking unimpressed as usual. Snape glanced over at Hermione's cauldron which was practically perfect, but it didn't seem to matter to him. He then walked over to Ron's potion. There was already a sneer etched on his face before he even reached his cauldron. He took one look before deciding it was enough and made his way to Ila's.
Thankfully, while she didn't have enough time to hide her potions, she was in between Ron and Hermione, so if anything bad did happen to her, it'll happen to them as well. Ila took a few steps to Hermione as Snape stared at the inside of her cauldron. He didn't look as terrified as Ila thought he would be.
In fact, he looked a lot angrier than Ila had expected.
"What. Is. This." Snape uttered, taking the ladle that was in the potions and scooped up some of her potion which looked more like burnt porridge. "How on earth did you mess this one up so badly?"
"Well-"
"I didn't say you could answer did I?" Snape said, dropping the ladle, causing some of the potion to land on the table.
"You asked a question, sir-"
"10 points off Gryffindor."
"Wha-"
"That's another 10 points, Potter."
"But sir-"
"There goes another 10 points, Potter, say something else and you'll land yourself in detention," Snape dared, waiting for Ila to say something. Ila was about to when Hermione hit her arm, whispering to her to not give into him.
Unsatisfied, Snape decided to take Ila's cauldron and walked over to Slytherin's table and placed her cauldron in the middle of the table. As if all the Slytherins had a meeting before Potions with Snape to plan on how they would embarrass Ila, all the students immediately reacted, covering up the noses, screwing up their faces, wafting the scent away from them. Some of them even had the colour drain out of their faces and if Ila squinted she could see Parkinson have tears well up in her eyes.
It wasn't that bad.
"Would anyone, for thirty points, tell the whole classroom, what exactly is wrong with Potter's potion?"
No one volunteered, all too busy exaggerating their reactions to Ila's potion. Perhaps the Slytherin's weren't so prepared after all. Snape was starting to get annoyed when no one took the opportunity to embarrass Ila Potter in front of the whole class single-handedly.
"Draco," Snape said stiffly. Malfoy didn't protest, instead of listening to him and he stood up.
"We don't have all day."
Malfoy took once glance at Ila before opening his mouth and said -
"That's it! I don't care, I'm going to kill that little…" the rest of Ila's sentence dissolved into angry mutterings that not even Hermione or Ron could translate.
"I'm with you on this one Ila," Ron said to the girls as he poked at his hedgehog – pincushion hybrid. Some of its spikes had needles sticking out of them. "I can't believe that son of a bitch said that about you."
"Exactly, he wasn't even making fun of my potion; he was just making fun of me!" Ila said, not even bothering to attempt to change the hedgehog into a pincushion but rather using it as a spikey stress ball. "Like I get the guy doesn't like me but have I actually done-"
"Ila."
" – anything to him that made him want to say-"
"Ila."
"-All of those things and not even get into trouble-"
"Ila."
"What!" Ila blurted out. Hermione motioned with her head towards her hands. Ila glanced down to see the hedgehog was starting to turn blue, his tongue sticking out.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Ila said quickly, gently placing the hedgehog onto the table, waiting for it to catch his breath back.
"Have you seen your hands?" Hermione asked before taking it and facing Ila's palms up to see a number of tiny spots where the hedgehog's needles pricked her. "You shouldn't give into him, Ila."
"I just – I just don't understand what I've actually done to annoy him so much."
"Malfoy doesn't need a reason to bully someone," Ron said darkly. "He'll get angry at anyone. Didn't you see how the way he shouted at Parkinson?"
"Just another lover's tiff," Ila quipped.
"You know, I did hear from Lavender that apparently Parkinson has a crush on Draco," Hermione added, causing the other two to stare at her. "What? It's important to be aware of what's going on in your surroundings."
"You don't have to be a genius to see that she's got a thing for him," Ron said, "Merlin knows why."
"Jealous Ron?" Ila said, smirking.
"There's no way I would ever have a crush on Parkinson Ila."
"Who said I was talking about her?" she said slyly.
"Oi!"
"Not so fun when you're on the other side."
"Am I the only one who feels slightly bad for Parkinson?" Hermione asked Ron and Ila just as her hedgehog successfully turned into a red pincushion. ("10 points to Gryffindor!")
"Yes," the two said at the same time.
"It's her own fault for having a crush on Malfoy," Ila said.
"You can't help for who you fall for," Hermione replied. "You can't control what your heart wants."
"What's happened to you, Mione?" Ron asked. "You're never this…sappy."
Hermione scoffed. "I'm not being sappy…it's just an interesting thing."
"When it's not to do with fourth-year relationships," Ron said. "You seriously think that Eloise Midgen and Terry Boot's relationship is what people hundreds of years in the future are going to be interested in?"
"Maybe," Hermione said, sitting up straighter. "Who's to say it won't be?"
"Me."
"Because you're known to be the beacon of truth," Hermione muttered sarcastically.
"So what experience have you had that's made you so interested in love?" Ron asked, leaning back in his chair. "I don't think I've ever heard you be so interested in a guy."
"That's not true," Hermione replied. "Just because I haven't said anything to you, it doesn't mean that it hasn't happened."
"Alright," Ron said, leaning back on his chair, turning to Ila, "you ever heard her say anything then?"
"Well, er…" Ila looked over to see Hermione's face calm, devoid of any emotion. "No?"
"ILA!"
"AH-HA!"
"Can I remind you that lunch is not for another half an hour," McGonagall said, slowly turning around to the three students. "I expected this from Potter and Weasley, but really Granger?"
"Sorry Professor," Hermione said remorsefully until McGonagall became distracted with another student and punched Ila's arm. "Ila!"
"You weren't saying anything with your face; I didn't know what to say-"
"Even if you said yes, I still would've known Ila," Ron said smugly. "It's practically written on your face."
"Yeah, because you're the one with the most experience out of the three of us," Hermione retorted.
Offended, Ron pulled himself up, sitting straighter in his chair. "What makes you say that? I could pull any girl that I want." To which Hermione replied with a snort. "Isn't that right Ila?"
"You know, there isn't anything wrong with never being in a relationship-"
"Who's side are you on?"
"The one that won't ruin either of my friendship."
"If you're such a ladies man, as you claim, name all the girls that you've been with," Hermione goaded, surprising Ila. She had never seen her this mean before. Why hasn't this happened before?
"It's only one," Ron said quietly. "It was last year when I went to Eygpt. I met a really pretty Egyptian girl there and…well, the rest was history," Ron said, getting more confident as he spoke. His ego seemed to increase when Lavender and Parvati overheard their conversation.
"You got with a girl?"
"What did she look like? Was she pretty?"
"Did you two kiss?"
"Did you two have-"
"Girls!" McGonagall scolded. "I will not have inappropriate conversations go on in this classroom. Ten points from Gryffindor. Each!"
Of course, this meant the rest of the class was now aware of Ron's tale about the mysterious but beautiful Egyptian girl that he meant during this third-year summer.
"Was she fit? I bet she's fit."
"Why'd I go with anyone who's not?" Ron said to Dean and Seamus, causing them to burst out laughing.
"What kind of history?" Hermione asked, crossing her arms.
"Hmm?" Ron said, turning back to her.
"I said what kind of history did you have with her?"
"You see, Hermione, the thing is, is that you'd know if you were ever with someone," Ron said, satisfied with Hermione's jaw dropping to the floor. "That's how I knew you'd never been with anyone."
"Fine," Hermione said in a low tone, "if that's how you want to play it…"
Hermione gave Ron one last look before turning back to hedgehog/pincushion, furiously whispering the spell that McGonagall taught them under breath. Ila shared a confused look with Ron or at least would have done so if he wasn't so busy looking smug over winning an argument with Hermione.
For the rest of the lesson, that was how it was. On one side of her, Ron loudly bragging to the rest of the class about his fairy tale, while on the other, Hermione was busy muttering things that sounded more about what she'd do to Ron with the help of the hedgehog rather than changing the hedgehog into a cushion. Surprisingly, Hermione's strange behaviour continued out of the classroom, remain quiet for the entirety of lunch, leaving Ila and Ron to talk all about Quidditch without a single complaint about boring it was. Ron didn't seem to notice, talking to the boys in great detail about all the amazing qualities Viktor Krum had.
"Are you alright?" Ila asked outside the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, waiting for their teacher to arrive.
"Hmm?" Hermione replied distractedly.
"You haven't said anything since last lesson."
"Yeah," Hermione said, plastering on a smile. "I um…I just feel tired, you know?" She stretched her arms, taking in a big yawn for added effect.
Ila was still unsure but didn't push on it. It was obviously about Ron, but the last thing they were talking about was relationships. Maybe Ron was too harsh on her? Whatever it was, Ila couldn't dwell on it much longer as the door to the classroom finally opened, letting a stream of excited Gryffindors and Ravenclaws into the room. Ila felt a hand grip around her wrist before finding herself being pulled towards the very front of the classroom to a desk that was opposite the teacher's desk.
"Ron," Ila moaned to him. "Why can't we be at the back?"
"Ila, this is the first time any of us have met an Auror," Ron explained as he sat down, taking out his books and paper, the first Ila had ever seen him do so. She took her seat when she saw that Eloise Midgen and Terry Boot took the seats she wanted. "You do know what he does for a living right? He's the one who has caught all the dark wizards and boots them into Azkaban!"
"So, like a police officer?"
"Nah, you're thinking of Hit Wizards. Aurors are the ones who have to find out why a dark wizard is killing people and how before they can kill anyone else."
"So, a detective?"
"But better!"
Ila sighed before turning around where Hermione sat by herself, filling up all the space with her belongings. "Do you wanna switch?"
"No, thank you, I like sitting by myself," Hermione said politely.
"Can I sit next to you then?" Ila pleaded.
"I like sitting by myself," Hermione repeated before writing down the date on her page. Ila scoffed, turning back around, sadly getting out all of her items and placing them onto the desk.
"You could look a bit more excited, you know," Ron suggested to Ila. She slumped her head on the table in response.
"We're sitting right at the front from a guy who thought his bins were out to get him."
Ron gasped, but it was drowned out from the mindless chatter from the rest of the students, wondering what their first lesson with an actual Auror would be like.
"That is no way to respect one of the most best Auror's out there, Ila."
"That isn't even grammatically correct," Hermione muttered.
"It's not like he's going to know," Ila said, resting her head on her arms now.
"Do you even know why he's so good, Ila?" Ron said, not even letting her have the chance to think before he spoke again. "Dad told us that he worked for forty years before he retired and guess how many Dark Wizards he's caught?"
"I don't know, a thousand-"
"Ten thousand Dark Wizards," he said in a low tone. But not low enough for Hermione to hear.
"There aren't that many Dark Wizards out there," Hermione said, grabbing Ron's attention. He swivelled in his seat, causing Ila to do the same, now resting her head on Hermione's desk.
"Uh, yes, there is," Ron said prickly. "There's Grindlewald and all of his followers."
"That was before Moody's time," Hermione said. "Most of his followers were probably caught before he was even born."
"There were probably a few stragglers."
"Ten thousand of them?" Ila quipped.
"Well, there's You Know Who and his lot," Ron said. "I'm pretty sure he was active during those times."
"Ok, yes, maybe he was, but ten thousand is completely illogical. The population of the wizarding community is really small, so there'll be an even a smaller minority that can count as a Dark Wizard. There were Aurors other than Moody that were involved with catching Dark Wizards."
"Yeah, what about Dumbledore?" Ila asked. "He's caught a lot of them, hasn't he?"
"Nah, he wasn't on the frontlines, like Moody," Ron said.
"Excuse me?"
"I remember Dad telling us that he was busy running some…club? I dunno, but Dumbledore only came out for the important ones…."
"Excuse me!"
" - or if everything's gone to shit….And anyway, stop distracting me, Ila. Moody did catch ten thousand Dark Wizards!"
Before Hermione could retort, there was a loud screech that pierced through all the noise from the students. Everyone was too busy covering the ears, but even then it wouldn't do much. Shoving her hands as hard as she could against her ears, Ila tried to find the source of that spine crawling noise. It was Moody, staring blankly at the students, his nails slowly dragging across the blackboard to grab their attention. Strangely, once he saw Ila staring at him, he stopped, reliving every one of the noise.
"This wouldn't have happened if you lot were actually focused and realised that I was trying to get your attention," Moody mumbled, dropping a comically large textbook onto a desk, landing with a thud so loud, Ron and Ila's table vibrated. "I'll skip with all the bullshit. You'll know what we're going to do for Defence one way or another. For today's lesson, you won't need these," Moody announced, picking up Ila's book before dropping it to the floor. As Moody walked back to his desk, Ila looked at Hermione, who shrugged her shoulders, her book remaining on the table. "I've had a letter from Professor Lupin about this class, telling me that you've done boggarts, Red Caps, hinkypunks, grindylows, Kappa's and werewolves," he said, reading off the list from the letter he received before shaking his head. "But you're behind – very behind, in fact, on your curses."
"There's nothing about curses in our textbooks," Hermione whispered mainly to Ila.
"It's not like he has to teach everything in them, does he?" Ron said quietly. Moody's eyes rolled towards Ron. It took a second for his other eye to reach Ron, who looked apprehensive, especially when Moody took a few steps towards their desk. Although, his worries seemed to disappear when Moody smiled at him, reminding Ila of the time he smiled when he had turned Parkinson into a pug. It was probably why Ila felt a drop in her stomach when he smiled.
"You're Arthur's kid, aren't ya?"
"You know who my dad is?" Ron asked, surprised.
"He's the one who got me out of a tough position," Moody said. "If it weren't for him, I wouldn't be here teaching now, would I?"
Ron's chest swelled with pride as he leaning to Ila, telling her, "If it weren't for my dad, we'd probably end up with someone like Snape."
"Now, I only have a year to teach you lot everything that I know about curses and all of that fun stuff…yes, Ms…."
"Granger, sir," Hermione said loudly and Ila could hear everyone's groaning internally. "The thing is, curses aren't anywhere in the textbook. Surely you should be teaching us things that are on the exam."
"Just because something isn't on the exam you'll be having next year doesn't mean it ain't useful. 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." Lavender jumped and blushed. She had been showing Parvati an edition of Witch Weekly under her desk. "Besides, it was a special request from Professor Dumbledore."
"But Professor Dumbledore wouldn't do something that wasn't approved by the ministry."
Moody let out a loud laugh, scaring a few of the students when he did so.
"Hasn't anyone told you, lassie?" Moody asked, leaning on Ila and Ron's desk. Hermione shook her head as she held his gaze. "Dumbledore's got the entire Ministry rung round his finger. They'll do anything for that man, anything at all." He smiled once more, and even this time, Ila could tell that Ron was getting uncomfortable at sight. Moody pushed himself off the desk and walked to the blackboard; picking up his wand, he levitated the chalk. He wrote the words: CURSES.
"No more distractions. How many curses do you know?"
At first, no one dared to put their hand up, all afraid of what Moody would say, until Terry Boot had braved it, and shakily put his hand up.
"You at the back," Moody said. "What d'ya think?"
"There's" – he immediately cleared his throat at the sound of his voice cracking – "there's the er…Curse of the Bogies."
The atmosphere promptly shifted, the sound of students giggling at Terry's serious voice breaking the tension in the room.
"The most terrifying of them all," Moody snapped. "Anyone else?"
Soon everyone was beginning to put their hands up, with a range of curses coming from entrail expelling cruse to the most painful to Ila, the Sponge – Knee cruse. Some students were more enthusiastic about getting their answers heard than others, practically climbing the tables or shoving people out of the way so that Moody noticed them. For example, when Ron nearly poked out Ila's eye as he tried to get his attention. It seemed that Moody had realised what Ron was doing, and didn't seem to care, purposefully choosing other students.
"Yes?" Moody said, picking on Dean.
"Fiendfyre," Dean said.
"I was going to say that," Ron moaned, putting his hand down. Ila could see a small smirk placed upon Moody's face as he heard Ron's complaint.
"Yes, the bewitched flame that has a mind of its own. Incredibly hard to control if you're not very experienced in the dark arts. Any others?"
"Oh!" Ron's hand shot in the air, this time managing to hit Ila's head in the process. "I've got one!"
Moody looked around, ignoring Ron at the front and instead picked on Neville, sitting at the back of the classroom. "You there, laddie. What've you got?"
"The…erm…well, there's one called the Cruciatus Cruse, sir."
Moody's face changed regarding Neville in a new light. For the first time, he took in who his students were. "What's your name?"
"Neville, sir, Neville Longbottom."
"Longbottom, you say?" Moody said distractedly. Neville nodded. Moody made no further comment and made his way into his office that was connected to the classroom. Once the door shut behind him, the class took the opportunity to talk once more.
"What was that on about?" Ila said.
"I don't like him," Hermione said bluntly. "Did you see the way he was talking about Dumbledore and the ministry? He sounded like he was jealous or angry."
"Oh, come off it, Mione," Ron said. "He's just bit a weird. But who wouldn't after being an Auror for forty years?"
"There's a difference being weird and practically unhinged," Hermione retorted. "You do know that the ministry won't allow students to see Curses until we're in sixth year. We aren't even allowed to learn about counter curses until next year."
"He's only following Dumbeldore's instructions," Ron said.
"Doesn't sound like he's enjoying it though," Ila said just as Moody walked back into the room, the class going silent again. He was now carrying a box that had a velvet cloth draped on it. He carefully placed the box onto the table and made his way to the blackboard.
"As you know, there are several different curses that you can use to cause harm upon another person, but, there are three specific curses that if the Ministry ever, and I mean ever find you use them on another person, whether it be muggle or wizard, will land you straight into Azkaban. As Neville, over there, said, one of them is them is the Cruciatus Curse. Does anyone know what the other two illegal curses are?"
There were a few hesitant hands in the air this time, scared that even uttering their names would land them in trouble with the Ministry.
"Let's see just how well you're father's taught you."
"There's one called the Imperious Curse, isn't there?"
"What happens if, let say, I put you under the Imperious Curse? What would you do?"
"Would I just…I would just do whatever you wanted me to, right?"
Moody faced the blackboard, this time using the chalk by hand rather than a wand and wrote down a large number one and the words Imperious Curse. People began to take their quills, scribbling down what he dictated.
"If placed under this curse, victims will do anything that the caster wanted them to do. Many ministry officials have used this. In fact, there was a big problem, nearly fifteen years ago now, where some Aurors were accused of using this when catching dark wizards and followers of certain groups to make them confess to something that they never did!"
The chalk in Moody's hand broke, leaving a cloud of white dust as everyone waited for his next words. He cleared his throat, picking up another piece of chalk, but rather than writing it down, he just spoke instead. "It was never proven, but…after a few years, you see through their mask….The next one – Cruciatus Curse….you know, I think it would be easier if you could see what would go on."
Moody took the cloth from the box and revealed what was inside it, Ron instantly cringing, gripping Ila's arm. It was a black cage that held a rather large spider with long, spindly legs. He picked it up, taking it out of his cage and showed it to the students. Suddenly, Ron regretted his decision to sit close to the front. Moving the spider to his left hand, he used his right to pick up his wand and said, "Imperio!"
An orange light emitted from the wand onto the spider and immediately jumped in the air. Controlling the spider with his wand, Moody made the spider zoom through the room, students ducking out of the way before making it land on people's desks. Landing on Seamus and Dean's desk, the spider began to dance, moving its skinny legs in the air before jumping behind them, landing on Paravti's head, causing her to scream. But no one took her seriously, instead, laughing at the dancing spider on her head. Even Ron seemed to forget about his fear until Moody moved the spider to land on their desk, making him jump out of his seat, sitting on Hermione's desk. Having enough of this curse, Moody then began to explain the next one.
"I think this one would be more noticeable if I made it bigger," Moody said before muttering, 'Engorgio!' The spider grew in size, Ron now sliding onto the chair beside Hermione. Ila didn't move as she watched the spider, who was now moving by its own free will, until Moody levitated it once more and landed on Neville's desk.
"Crucio!" A blue light reached the spider. Instantly, the spider writhed in pain, landing on its back. It rolled around, its legs spasmed, and it let out a high pitched squeal. Neville became increasingly uncomfortable, unable to look at the spider. He covered his ears to block out the spider's wails, but that didn't stop Moody. Instead, it seemed that he was making the pain worse for the spider as the squeals got louder and louder-
"Stop it! Just stop it! Can't you see what you're doing to him!" Hermione said shrilly.
Moody stopped, the spider's legs relaxing and slowly coming down. He stared blankly at the class.
"Horrible curse to be put under," Moody said. "Feels like hours of swords constantly being shoved into you, only to realise it's only been a minute. It gets worse the longer it continues. If someone's placed under it past a certain amount of time – just over 16 minutes to be exact - they wouldn't be able to handle it. Their brain gets damaged, and…they'll be walking around for the rest of their lives like a vegetable," Moody glanced at Neville, who still had his hands clamped around his ears, staring at the floor. "Who knows the last one?"
For the first time in that lesson, Hermione raised her hand to answer his question, something that astounded the class.
"Avada Kevada," Hermione whispered. A few people instantly cringed at the name, even Ron.
"Yes," Moody said. "Avada Kevada…or the Killing Curse, as most people like to know it." Dread hung in the air as the students knew what would come, as Moody raised his hand once more and lifted the spider to land on his book at his desk, giving everyone a clear view. The spider seemed to have regained movement back into its legs as it tried to scuttle its way to the open window frantically. But it didn't even make it past the edge of the book. A glass jar blocked its pathway, trapping it. Moody lifted the jar upright as everyone watched the spider trying to climb up the slippery surface and failing every single time.
There was a jolt in her stomach as an eerie sense of déjà vu washed past her when Moody took his wand.
"Avada Kevada!" Moody roared. A flash of green and a rushing sound encircled the spider, instantly killing the thing, its legs relaxing for the last time. A few students let out gasps, Ron moving his chair further away from the desk. Moody took the spide out of the jar and swiftly brushed it away from his desk.
"Nasty one that is….worse than the other two since there's no counter curse. Once you're hit, no one can revive you," Moody said to the class. "However, there has been one person known to have survived the curse."
It felt like the whole world was watching Ila as she shifted in her seat. In the back of her head, something was telling her that she should have seen this coming. Though, it wasn't until now that she had some idea the night Voldemort came to her house and…it looked rather painless, she told herself. Unblemished, unmarked. Most people would have thought they died in their sleep if it weren't for Voldemort being the one to kill them. The only other time she got a glimpse from that night was last year, where the Dementors had gone after her. She knew from Sirius that it was Wormtail who had given out the location to Voldemort. She had seen from the Quidditch match about her father telling her mother to take her upstairs, praying that he could fend Voldemort off himself. She remembered how her mother begged and pleaded with Voldemort. How he refused, how her mother had stepped in front of her, blocking the curse that was meant for Ila.
Is that going to happen to her? She would have to face him. Maybe for only a year, maybe for the rest of her life. Maybe not. Maybe she would defeat him. Would she have to kill him? Maybe he would defeat her. Would he have to kill her?
"Avada Kedavra's a curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behind it — you could all get your wands out now and point them at me and say the words, and I doubt I'd get so much as a nosebleed. But that doesn't matter. I'm not here to teach you how to do it. Now, if there's no countercurse, why am I showing you? Because you've got to know. You've got to appreciate what the worst is. You don't want to find yourself in a situation where you're facing it. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he roared, and the whole class jumped again. "Now . . . those three curses — Avada Kedavra, Imperius, and Cruciatus — are known as the Unforgivable Curses. Using any one of them on a fellow human being is enough to earn a life sentence in Azkaban. That's what you're up against. That's what I've got to teach you to fight. You need to prepare. You need arming. But most of all, you need to practice constant, never-ceasing vigilance. Get out your quills...copy this down..."
They spent the rest of the lesson taking notes on each of the Unforgivable Curses. No one spoke until the bell rang — but when Moody had dismissed them, and they had left the classroom, a torrent of talk burst forth. Most people were discussing the curses in awed voices —
"Did you see it twitch?"
"— and when he killed it — just like that!"
"Makes everything crazier."
"What does?"
"No wonder why Ila's parents died…a bit weird that she didn't die…."
Ila couldn't help but stop in her tracks. Her friends had overheard the conversation between the students too.
"Don't pay any attention to them," Ron said, tugging at her sleeve to go down the stairs.
"Can't people have some compassion?" Hermione muttered under her breath. Halfway down the stairs, they saw a group of people blocking it. Peering over heads and shoulders stood Neville, shaking with a red face. Seamus and Dean were trying to talk to him while also pushing the crowd away, knowing it was making it worse. Hermione shoved past the students, with Ila and Ron close behind.
"What happened?" Ron asked the two boys.
"He just stood here like this ever since the lesson finished," Dean told the three. "We've been trying to get him to move or even say anything, but he won't do that."
"Are you alright, Neville?" Hermione asked gently, wrapping an arm around his shoulder.
"I – I – I tried – I tried to get it t-t stop but…but it won't…I can't – I can't stop it!" Neville spluttered.
"Is this about what happened during the lesson?" Ila asked.
"Do you not know?" Seamus said.
"Know what?"
"Alright, alright, what's happened? C'mon, move it, people! Thought young people liked eating their food…go on…leave!"
The crowd slowly but surely dispersed, leaving Ron, Ila, Hermione, Neville, Dean, Seamus and Moody at the stairs.
"What's happened?" Moody asked.
"None of this would've happened if you didn't teach us the curses," Hermione said defiantly.
Moody snorted. "What makes you think it was my teaching that left him like that?"
"You saw what he was like when you Crucio'd that spider in front of him. You saw him, and you didn't stop!"
"He'll get over it," Moody replied coldly before taking Neville away from Hermione's arms. "Come on, laddie…let's get you to my office…what kind of things do you like…."
Their conversation drifted away as they headed into Moody's office.
"His parents got Crucio'd by one of His followers. That's why he has to live with his nan. Apparently, he sees them every year at St. Mungos, but…Moody should've known," Seamus explained to the trio before he and Dean went to an early dinner.