Chapter 20.
A few days later, Magnolia was leaning against the wall outside the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom with Daphne, Tracey and Pansy. She rested her head on Daphne's shoulder and yawned. Magnolia hadn't slept well the night before, screams and maniacal laughter had filled her dreams.
Harry had been looking forward to this lesson, his incessant enthusiasm had caused Magnolia to spend less time with him. He was currently stood by the front of the queue for the class; Magnolia had seen him, and Ron leave lunch early to get here. The class eventually walked in and Magnolia sat with Daphne and Theo as Moody took the register for the class.
"I'm here to bring you up to scratch on what wizards can do to each other." Moody began, "I've got one year to teach you how to deal with Dark-"
"Aren't you staying?" Ron interrupted.
"You'll be Arthur Weasley's son, eh? Your father got me out of a very tight spot a few days ago… Yeah, I'm only staying the year. Special favour to Dumbledore… one year and then back to my quiet retirement."
Magnolia grimaced as Moody smiled. It had made his face look even more disfigured. She was relieved to hear that he would only be here for the one year, though. Magnolia felt uneasy as Moody explained to them that he would be showing the class not only counter-curses, but the actual illegal curses.
"So, do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by wizarding law? The three Unforgivable Curses?"
Around her, a number of hands rose into the air. Magnolia wasn't surprised to see Hermione's had shot up, but she was surprised when she noticed that Ron had also put his hand up to answer the question.
"Er, my dad told me about one once… is it called the Imperius Curse?"
"Ah yes, your father would know that one." Moody nodded, moving to his desk to retrieve a jar with spiders in it.
Magnolia looked at Theo, what was Moody planning on doing to them? She turned back to watch Moody, who had moved back to the front of his desk and had scooped one of the spiders out. He held the spider in his hand and raised his wand to it.
"Imperio!"
Magnolia cringed, the class around her was laughing at the spider as Moody controlled it and made it do whatever he wanted with just a flick of his wand. Absolute power. Magnolia watched as Moody made the spider do cartwheels across the desk and wondered what it would feel like to have that amount of control over another living being.
"Years back, there were a lot of witches and wizards being controlled by the Imperius Curse." Moody explained, "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 VIGILIANCE!"
Magnolia jumped at Moody's outburst. He had put the spider back in the jar now and was walking through the desks in the classroom.
"Anyone else know one? Another illegal curse?"
Magnolia rolled her eyes as Hermione's hand shot up again. Theo nudged her side, looking at her confused and pointed his head to Neville Longbottom, who had also risen his hand. Neville never spoke up in class; honestly, Magnolia didn't know how the boy had ever ended up in Gryffindor, she had always seen him as a Hufflepuff.
"There's one- the Cruciatus curse." Neville mumbled, almost like he didn't want to say it.
"You're name's Longbottom?"
Neville nodded and Moody moved back to his desk and removed another spider from the jar, placing it on the desk. Moody cast a spell over the spider, making it grow in size so the class could see better. Magnolia covered her mouth to hide her giggle as she saw Ron push his chair as far back as he could.
"Crucio!"
Magnolia had never seen anything like it. She grasped Theo's hand as they watched the spider twitching and rolling from side to side. Her head began to hurt, like she could hear the terrible screams it would be making if it could. The kind of screams she had heard in her dreams.
The spider was practically throwing itself around on the desk, and Theo's grip tightened on Magnolia's hand. She glanced at him, his gaze was transfixed on the tortured animal, and he lost all of the colour in his face. Magnolia looked around the class, the majority of them looked like they could be sick, but Neville stuck out to her.
He was gripping the desk so tight his hand were going white. He seemed to not be able to tear his eyes from the spider although she could tell from the desolate look on his face that he wanted nothing more then to be able to look away. He was obviously horror-struck by the scene in front of him.
"Stop it!"
Magnolia had shocked herself by shouting at the Professor, but she couldn't stop looking at Neville and how helpless he looked. Moody quickly stopped the spell, reduced the spider's size and placed it back in the jar.
"Pain. You don't need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can perform the Cruciatus curse." Moody mumbled.
He looked at Magnolia, she had to fight not to shrink back into her seat, but Theo's pressure on her hand was something else to focus on.
"The last curse, Miss Potter?"
Magnolia swallowed hard; she knew that last one. It was what had robbed her of her family. She glared at moody, not knowing why he would choose her out of everyone in the class to give him the final Curse.
"The Killing Curse." Magnolia muttered.
Moody looked at her, almost pityingly, whilst he bought the last spider out of the jar.
"Avada Kedavra!"
The flash of green light filled the classroom and the spider dropped to the table it had been running along. Magnolia squeezed her eyes shut. That was the same light she had been dreaming of. She felt sick. That spell had killed her parents. Daphne was sniffing beside her but put her arm around Magnolia's waist.
"There's no counter-curse. There's no way of blocking it. Only one known person has ever survived it, and he's sitting right in front of me."
Magnolia glanced at her brother; he had shrunken into the chair at Moody's gaze. She tuned out what Moody was saying to the class, instead putting all her attention on the table in front of her. Is that how it had been that night when Magnolia's parents were murdered? A brief flash of green light and a dull thud as her parent's bodies hit the floor?
Moody made the class copy down notes on the Unforgivable Curses for the rest of the lesson. Magnolia was almost glad; she didn't want to be shown any more. She was glad when the class ended, but Moody quickly called her name and asked her to stay behind.
"Do you want me to stay?" Daphne whispered.
"No, it's ok. I'll meet you in the Great Hall."
Magnolia sat on her desk, waiting for Moody who had rushed after Neville when he left. He wasn't gone for long before he reappeared, Neville following behind him. Magnolia could see that Neville desperately wanted to be anywhere but in that room and she had to agree with him.
"Here." Moody grunted, "Have a cup of tea."
Magnolia frowned. Tea? After that lesson, he was offering them tea? A cup was placed in front of her, and she could see Neville had one in front of him too. She picked hers up, just for something to do with her hands.
"Now, Neville how you doing?"
Neville looked like he was going to combust at the question, his eyes wide.
"I understand… must have been difficult to see… especially when… but you've got to know. No point acting like those spells aren't out there. You'll be better served knowing what they are and how to fight them."
"That's not always possible though, is it, Sir?" Neville mumbled.
Moody sighed, "No. Sometimes, even the best witches and wizards fall to those spells. It's why they are Unforgivable. Because only the most deplorable witches or wizards would cast them on another."
Moody moved quickly then, away from the two students and to his bookshelf. He retrieved one of the books and gave it to Neville. Magical Mediterranean Water-Plants and Their Properties.
"Professor Sprout has told me that you have quite the talent for Herbology, I thought you might like this." He nodded at the book in Neville's hands, "We must each play to our strengths, don't you think?"
Neville left shortly after that, the pride from being told he was good at something made him hold himself higher and walk with more confidence. The air changed when he left, Magnolia had been using him as a buffer and without him there, all of Moody's attention was on her.
"Miss Potter," Moody began, his voice sounded like she had never heard him speak before, almost awestruck, "You alright, after the lesson?"
"You mean, am I ok after watching you torture and kill an innocent animal in front of the class?" Magnolia bit back, "I don't see that I have much choice but to be ok."
Moody chuckled, "So much spirit."
Magnolia frowned, he was leaning against the table opposite her now, watching her intently.
"Do you remember it?" Moody uttered.
"Remember what?"
Magnolia was getting a strange feeling, an icy dread creeping up from her stomach.
"That night. Meeting him."
A flash of green and a scream came into Magnolia's thoughts as he asked the question. A feeling of calm, and an intense feeling of confusion.
"Are you asking me if I remember the night my parents were murdered by a maniac?" Magnolia couldn't believe her teacher would ever ask such a question, "No. I don't. I was a baby."
"And in school? I've heard of what you and your brother get up to here… the stories of what have happened in these very walls…"
The memory of Snape receiving her from her Common Room and taking her to the Hospital wing when Harry had been hurt after meeting Voldemort in first year floated through her head.
"I wasn't there in first year."
Magnolia didn't understand why he was so interested in this. She felt like she couldn't breathe, his blue eye that usually whizzed around was fixed firmly on her.
"But your second year, you were in the Chamber with Harry then weren't you?" Moody had leaned forward, his voice frantic as he spoke, "What was it like?"
Magnolia could almost feel Tom Riddle's arms wrapped around her still, she could hear his voice in her head telling her that he'd take care of her. She shivered as she remembered the feeling of belonging she had felt when he was holding her.
"I don't- I don't want to talk about it." Magnolia mumbled, wanting nothing more than to leave.
"Right. Right, of course. My apologies. Just an Auror's interest."
"Erm, I should be getting to dinner."
Magnolia slowly picked her bag up and backed away from him, like someone would move away from an angry dog. Her heart was pounding against her chest, the way he had been looking at her… it made her feel more then uncomfortable.
She slammed the door shut behind her and practically ran from the class towards the Great Hall, until she saw a familiar blonde-haired boy hurrying her way. He paused when he saw her, before jogging over to her.
"Daphne said Moody kept you after class."
"Yeah, he did." Magnolia mumbled, "Where were you going in such a rush?"
"To find you."
Malfoy's easy response shocked Magnolia, they had barely spoken the last few days and had instead been insulting each other like first year.
"Are you ok?" Malfoy asked, beginning to pace in front of Magnolia, "Daphne and Theo never should have left you alone with him. I noticed how often he was watching you in class; far more than anyone else. It's odd."
He had noticed it too. Magnolia felt a small smile spread across her lips, if Malfoy had noticed the strange way Moody was acting then she knew it wasn't just her being paranoid. Which meant that Magnolia could talk to Malfoy about how she felt about Moody; he wouldn't idolise him like the others.
"Can I tell you something that you won't tell anyone else?"
Malfoy stopped pacing, locking eyes with Magnolia. She could see the concern for her in them, the two of them only ever said that when it was something they had trouble saying.
"Moody unnerves me. Every time he looks at me with that stupid eye of his, it's like he's trying to read my mind." Magnolia rushed the words out, "He kept me after class to ask if I remember the night my parents died, he wanted me to tell him about… him."
"What did you say?"
"That I couldn't remember, that I didn't want to talk about the time in the Chamber."
Malfoy was stood beside her now, both leaning against the wall and facing each other.
"Everything he asked, it just dredged up memories that I don't want to think about. That I haven't thought about for a long time, but it was like I didn't have a choice. My mind just brought those memories up like I was there again."
Malfoy frowned; Magnolia felt stupid for telling him about the after-class discussion with Moody, but he had been the one to seek her out. Magnolia felt Malfoy's hand on her arm, stroking his thumb across her skin.
"I need to look into something, you should go eat."
Magnolia nodded and let Malfoy leave. Her shoulders fell, she had wanted to talk to him more, but he obviously didn't want to hear it. Instead, she made her way to the Great Hall and sat next to Daphne, who had saved her a seat, and pretended that she was ok.
After dinner, she told her friends that she had some homework to do and headed to the Library alone. She pulled out her Divination work, the Library was the best place to do this work if you wanted to do it in peace. Divination homework was usually a team event in the Slytherin Common Room, everyone trying to outdo everyone else's predictions until they became so ridiculous that no one could breathe through laughter.
"You're not actually doing that, are you?"
Magnolia span around at Malfoy's voice. He was smirking at her, but she just turned away. Today was not the time for him to tease her. He had bolted earlier when she was obviously vulnerable in front of him, he had never done that before. And she was feeling grumpy anyway, the Full Moon outside making her scars painful and her mood awful.
"What's wrong with you?"
Magnolia ignored him again, focussing on the work in front of her. She felt him sit down next to her and pull her Divination book from her hands.
"Can I tell you something you won't tell anyone else?"
Magnolia could hear the tone in his voice, the concerned tone that made her frown.
"I don't like the way he looks at you." Malfoy placed his hand on Magnolia's thigh, making her look at him, "I think there's more to it. So, I needed to look into something."
Magnolia looked down at her lap and sighed. He hadn't disregarded what she had been saying at all. She looked back up at Malfoy, becoming lost in his intense gaze.
"Potter, have you ever heard of Legilimency?"
Magnolia shook her head; Malfoy was looking into her eyes with urgency now.
"Legilimency, is the art of gaining entrance into a person's mind; their memories, their thoughts and feelings. Nothing is off limits to a gifted Legilimens" Malfoy leaned forward, "I think we need to train you to resist them."