Authors note: Hope you are all doing well! Heres another chapter.

i promise some less angsty stuff is coming...eventually ;)

Please let me know what you think or feel free to ask any questions.

Stay safe everyone xx

A large tawny owl swooped in with the morning post and dropped a brown paper parcel onto Neville's lap.

"What did you forget this time?" Ebony asked between mouthfuls of cereal.

"Nothing," he said sheepishly whilst pulling his school jumper out of the paper and over his head. Ebony just smiled and shook her head.

The day didn't have such a great start. In Herbology they were collecting Bubotuber pus, an activity which was both very messy and incredibly disgusting. Luckily they were working in pairs and Ebony let Neville do most of the work.

"I just don't understand you," she said, using the back of her hand to wipe pus from her cheek with a look of disgust, "you enjoy this?"

Neville shrugged, "I don't know, it's sort of interesting don't you think." He squeezed particularly hard as a large dollop of yellow-green pus fell into the bottle. Neville's eyes sort of lit up. "That one was satisfying you have to admit."

Ebony looked at him with disgust on her face and gagged. "You are rank."

"Thank you." He smiled and returned to the plant.

Only Neville could be surrounded by pus and soil and be completely in his element.

The eventful start to the day didn't get any better as they dealt with Hagrid's Blast-ended Skrewts which were a disaster waiting to happen. Ebony was just relieved that neither of them ended up in the hospital wing.

...

By dinner time, Ebony's day had not improved. She had just sat through two periods of Ancient Runes and was, as per usual, very confused even with Hermione's patient assistance.

"Look you're not far off with this one, you've just missed the 'er' on the end!" Hermione said, pointing at the word with the end of her quill.

"Doesn't that make it a completely different word?"

"Well yes but-"

Ebony buried her head on her folded arms and groaned. She wasn't especially smart, she knew that, but Ancient Runes just had a way of making her feel like shit.

"I wish I could drop this."

"It really doesn't seem like your subject."

"You don't say," Ebony snorted.

"Well, I am making it my mission to help you pass this."

"Hermione you really don't have to do that."

"No," she said, "Ebony, I will get you an OWL in this subject even if it kills me." She flicked open a large textbook.

"It's definitely going to kill you."

"Oh come on," she said, "you're not a lost cause."

"I think some people may disagree with you on that one."

Her parents to be exact. Ebony had lost count of the number of times she had heard the words, 'fucking useless'. She was starting to think that maybe they had a point.

"You're not stupid you know," Hermione said. Ebony rolled her eyes. "I mean it, just because you and Neville are hopeless in the self-esteem department doesn't mean you're completely useless."

"Thanks?"

"You're welcome," Hermione brushed her off, "now, this one is almost right as well..."

Hermione had sat and gone through every single one of her wrong answers, corrected them and explained how to work them out. Though Ebony still didn't really feel like she knew what she was doing it was nice to have someone not give up on her. Who didn't just call her stupid and chuck her to the side.

She and Neville were just arriving at the entrance to the Great Hall when they heard raised voices.

"A picture of your parents outside their house - if you can call it a house! Your mother could do with losing a bit of weight, couldn't she?"

It was Draco, waving a newspaper in Ron's face. Ebony and Neville joined the crowd around the two boys. Harry tried to drag Ron away, clearly wanting to avoid the situation. Ebony thought this was intelligent, her cousin could be nasty to get into an argument with - as he was currently proving.

"You were staying with them this summer, weren't you Potter?" Draco sneered. "So tell me, is his mother really that porky, or is it just the picture?"

"You know your mother, Malfoy?" Harry retorted whilst both he and Hermione grabbed Ron to prevent him from throwing himself at Draco. "That expression she's got, like she's got dung under her nose? Has she always got that look or was it just because you were with her?"

Ebony couldn't help but grin as she watched her cousin's face go a lovely shade of pink. It wasn't often that he got a taste of his own medicine and she couldn't help but think that he rather deserved it. Also, she had to admit Harry was right, her aunt did often look as though she had something foul under her nose.

"You're enjoying this a little too much," Neville muttered.

"Oh shush."

"Don't you dare insult my mother, Potter!" Draco snarled.

"Keep your fat mouth shut then!" Harry said as he turned away.

Ebony had turned to Neville to make a comment but was interrupted by a rather loud bang followed by a few screams. She whipped back around just in time to hear a second bang followed by a shout that echoed through the hall.

"OH NO YOU DON'T LADDIE!" Moody boomed as he clumped his way down the hall.

She wasn't quite sure what on earth had just happened but Draco had disappeared and in his place stood a small white ferret shivering on the floor. Ebony furrowed her brow.

"Is that..." she asked, pointing to the rodent.

"I think so," Neville said.

Ebony bit back a laugh. Her cousin had been turned into a ferret. A ferret! She was never going to let him forget this.

Moody had his back to them and was talking to Harry when Crabbe bent down to pick up the ferret.

"LEAVE IT!" Moody roared and Crabbe froze.

"How did he know?" Neville asked and Ebony pointed to her left eye with a questioning look. He just shrugged again.

Moody limped towards them and Ebony watched the ferret speed off down towards the dungeons with a squeak. "Oh I don't think so!" he shouted. Moody flicked his wand and the ferret flew ten feet in the air then hit the floor with a smack.

Ebony flinched, frowning at Moody. She was beginning to think that maybe it wasn't so funny anymore.

"I don't like people who attack when their opponents back is turned," he growled, still bouncing the ferret up and down as it squealed.

"You know, this was funny at first but now..." Ebony's voice trailed off as the squeals continued.

"Never-do-that-again!" Moody said, speaking each word as the ferret hit the stone floor.

"Professor Moody!" A shocked voice came from behind them. It was Professor McGonagall coming down the stairs with an armful of books.

"Hello, Professor McGonagall," he said calmly, still bouncing the ferret higher and higher.

"What- what on earth are you doing?" She asked, her eyes following the ferret's movements through the air.

"Teaching," Moody replied rather casually.

"Teach- Alastor, is that a student?" shrieked Professor McGonagall, the books spilling from her arms.

"Technically, it's a ferret."

"No!" She cried, pulling her wand out. A loud snap later and Draco had reappeared, lying in a heap on the floor, looking rather mortified. He got to his feet, wincing.

As Professor McGonagall lectured Moody about the proper way to discipline students, Ebony's eyes wandered over to where Draco was dusting himself off. She wished Crabbe and Goyle weren't there so she could ask if he was alright.

She sort of wished she could give him a hug.

Moody mentioned something about detention and she watched as he dragged Draco off down the corridor by his upper arm.

"Well," Neville said as they finally made their way into the Great Hall, "that was not something I was expecting to see today."

"Me neither," Ebony replied as they sat down, "it seemed a bit harsh."

They both started to fill their plates.

"I mean..."

"It was a tiny bit funny," she admitted.

"Just a teeny tiny bit."

They glanced sideways at each other and descended into laughter.

...

They didn't have Professor Moody until two days later.

"So," Ebony said, "Defence against the Dark Arts teacher number four. What we thinking?"

"Well Professor Lupin set the bar pretty high," Neville replied, "but Professor Lockhart set it pretty low so I'm hoping for somewhere in the middle."

They were sitting impatiently in Professor Moody's classroom. It was their first lesson with him and from what they had heard, they were in for a treat. What they had seen in the corridor with Draco though scared Ebony just a little.

Soon enough they heard a distinctive clunk coming down the corridor and then Moody swept into the room.

"Put those books away," he grunted as he reached his desk, "you won't be needing them."

The class shared several grins, putting books away was always a good sign.

"Right then," he said, "I received a letter from Professor Lupin explaining what you have covered and it seems that you are very well equipped at dealing with all manners of dark creatures."

There was a murmur of agreement.

"However," he continued, "you are very behind in dealing with curses. So I am 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 blurted out.

Moody's magical eye spun around to stare at Ron and to Ebony's surprise, he smiled. Moody hadn't struck Ebony as overly friendly, especially after what she had seen him do to her cousin but it was comforting to know that he was capable of such emotion.

"You'll be Arthur Weasley's son, eh?" Moody said. "Your father got me out of a very tight corner a few days ago...Yeah, I'm staying just the one year. Special favour to Dumbledore...One year, and then back to my quiet retirement."

'Typical,' Ebony thought, 'yet another DADA teacher only lasting a year.'

He gave a harsh laugh, and then clapped his 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."

Lavender jumped and blushed. She hastily pulled a sheet of paper out from under the desk and shoved it into her bag. Apparently, Moody's magical eye could see through solid wood, as well as out of the back of his head.

It made Ebony's stomach squirm, the thought that he was always watching.

"So...do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by wizarding law, Mr Weasley?"

"Er," said Ron tentatively, "my dad told me about one...Is it called the Imperius Curse, or something?"

"Ah, yes," said Moody appreciatively. "Your father would know that one. Gave the Ministry a lot of trouble at one time, the Imperius Curse."

Moody went into his desk drawer and then pulled out three jars containing large spiders. Many members of the class, including Ebony and Neville, recoiled from the sight of them. He reached into the jar, caught one of the spiders, and held it in the palm of his hand so that they could all see it. He then pointed his wand at it and muttered, "Imperio!"

The spider leapt from Moody's hand on a fine thread of silk and began to swing backward and forward. It then did a backflip, breaking the thread and landing on the desk, where it began to cartwheel in circles. Moody jerked his wand, and the spider rose onto two of its hind legs and went into what was unmistakably a tap dance.

Neville leaned towards her, "As much as I don't really like spiders," he said, "I wouldn't mind them so much if they danced all the time."

Everyone was laughing - everyone except Moody.

"Think it's funny, do you?" he growled. "You'd like it, would you, if I did it to you?"

The laughter died away almost instantly.

"Total control," said Moody quietly as the spider balled itself up and began to roll over and over. "I could make it jump out of the window, drown itself, throw itself down one of your throats."

Ebony shuddered.

"Years back, there were a lot of witches and wizards being controlled by the Imperius Curse," said Moody, "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!" he barked, and everyone jumped, Neville almost fell off his chair.

Moody picked up the somersaulting spider and threw it back into the jar.

"Anyone else know one? Another illegal curse?"

Ebony watched with surprise as Neville slowly raised his hand. The only class in which she had seen Neville willingly join in was Herbology. She noticed that even Neville looked surprised at his own daring.

"Yes?" said Moody, his magical eye rolling right over to fix on Neville.

"There's one - the Cruciatus Curse," said Neville in a small but distinct voice. Ebony felt a pang in her chest.

Moody was looking very intently at Neville, this time with both eyes.

"Your name's Longbottom?" he said, his magical eye swooping down to check the register again.

Neville nodded nervously. Moody's eye darted to Ebony and then back to Neville but he said nothing. Turning back to the class at large, he reached into the jar for the next spider and placed it upon the desktop.

"The Cruciatus Curse," said Moody. "Needs to be a bit bigger for you to get the idea," he said, pointing his wand at the spider. "Engorgio!"

The spider swelled. It was now larger than a tarantula.

Moody raised his wand again, pointed it at the spider, and muttered, "Crucio!"

At once, the spider's legs bent in upon its body; it rolled over and began to twitch horribly, rocking from side to side. No sound came from it. Ebony bit her lip and looked away from it, she couldn't watch. Her heart was pounding in her ears as she tried not to think about the pain that she knew the insect was in. Moody did not remove his wand, and the spider started to shudder and jerk more violently-

"Stop it!" Hermione said shrilly."

At her shout Ebony looked over and saw that Neville's hands were clenched upon the desk in front of him, his knuckles white, his eyes wide and horrified. She gently clasped her hand over the top of his, looking at him with concern. He continued to stare at the spider, white as a sheet.

Moody raised his wand. The spider's legs relaxed, but it continued to twitch.

"Reducio," Moody muttered, and the spider shrank back to its proper size. He put it back into the jar.

"Pain," said Moody softly. "You don't need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can perform the Cruciatus Curse...That one was very popular once too."

"Right...anyone know any others?"

As Moody looked around for volunteers, Ebony fixed her eyes on her friend.

"Neville?" She whispered. He slowly took his eyes off of the spider and met her gaze. "You okay?" He said nothing but offered half a smile which disappeared as quickly as it arrived.

Hermione's hand had gone up.

"Yes?" said Moody, looking at her.

"Avada Kedavra," Hermione whispered.

A pit dropped into Ebony's stomach. Surely he wouldn't...

"Ah," said Moody, a sick smile twisting his lopsided mouth. "Yes, the last and worst. Avada Kedavra...the Killing Curse."

He put his hand into the glass jar, and almost as though it knew what was coming, the third spider scuttled frantically around the bottom of the jar, trying to evade Moody's fingers, but he trapped it, and placed it upon the desktop. It started to scuttle frantically across the wooden surface.

Moody raised his wand, and the class seemed to hold its breath.

"Avada Kedavra!" Moody roared.

There was a flash of blinding green light and a rushing sound, as though a vast, invisible something was soaring through the air - instantaneously the spider rolled over onto its back, unmarked, but unmistakably dead. There were several gasps and small cries.

Neville gripped Ebony's hand tightly.

Moody swept the dead spider off the desk onto the floor.

"Not nice," he said calmly. "Not pleasant. And there's no countercurse. There's no blocking it. Only one known person has ever survived it, and he's sitting right in front of me."

Harry flushed red and shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

"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. The use of 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 preparing. You need arming. But most of all, you need to practice constant, never-ceasing vigilance. Get out your quills...copy this down..."

The rest of the lesson was spent taking notes on each of the Unforgivable Curses. The classroom had developed an uneasy silence.

Ebony ended up writing her notes twice - Neville's hand was trembling too much to even hold a quill.

Once the bell rang Ebony was surprised to see Neville slip quickly out of the classroom without so much as a second glance in her direction. She frowned but filed out amongst the chatter of her classmates.

She shoved her way through the crowd and found him, already surrounded by Ron, Harry and Hermione.

He was standing alone, halfway up the passage, staring at the stone wall opposite him with the same horrified, wide-eyed look he had worn when Moody had demonstrated the Cruciatus Curse.

"Neville?" Hermione said gently.

Neville looked around.

"Oh hello," he said, his voice much higher than usual. "Interesting lesson, wasn't it? I wonder what's for dinner, I'm - I'm starving, aren't you?"

"Neville, are you all right?" said Hermione.

"Oh yes, I'm fine," Neville gabbled in the same unnaturally high voice. "Very interesting dinner - I mean lesson - what's for eating?"

Ebony knit her brow and placed a hand on his arm. "Neville, you're not making any sense."

An odd clunking noise sounded behind them, and they turned to see Professor Moody limping toward them. All five of them fell silent, watching him apprehensively, but when he spoke, it was in a much lower and gentler growl than they had yet heard.

"It's all right, sonny," he said to Neville. "Why don't you come up to my office? Come on...we can have a cup of tea..."

Neville looked even more frightened at the prospect of tea with Moody. He neither moved nor spoke. Moody's magical eye lingered on Ebony for a moment and then he turned it upon Harry.

"You all right, are you, Potter?"

"Yes," said Harry.

Moody's blue eye quivered slightly in its socket. Then he said, "You've got to know. It seems harsh, maybe, but you've got to know. No point pretending...well...come on, Longbottom, I've got some books that might interest you."

Neville looked at Ebony, mildly terrified but she just smiled and rubbed his arm.

"Go on," she encouraged, "might make you feel better. I'll see you in a bit yeah?"

He gave her a timid nod and allowed himself to be steered away, one of Moody's gnarled hands on his shoulder

Ebony walked alone to the Great Hall, Ron, Harry and Hermione having already run off.

She wrapped her arms around her torso. Her muscles ached and tensed, almost as if they were remembering what it felt like to have the wand pointed in their direction.

Ebony went and found Ginny in the Great Hall.

"Where's Neville?" she asked as Ebony sat down.

"Oh," she said, "he got a bit upset in defence so Moody let him sit in his office for a bit."

"What happened?"

"We were looking at the unforgivable curses and-" Ebony realised that she wasn't sure how many people knew what had happened to Neville's parents. She also knew that it wasn't her story to tell- "you know how he is, he's sensitive."

"That sucks," Ginny said, "hope he's alright."

His horrified look and white clenched knuckles flashed in her mind.

"Me too."

...