"Why didn't you take my class?" Professor Trelawny asked. She stared at me through thick lenses. "I'd have thought that you, of all people could benefit..."

"I see what I need to see," I said. "And I'm not really certain of the purpose of your class."

"What?" she asked.

"As I understand it, being a Seer is like being a metamorphmagus; you either are, or you are not. Why you'd be teaching a group of people who are simply incapably of using what you teach I don't understand."

She stared at me, and said, "I do not know what you mean. My class brings out the inner eye in the most oblivious of people."

She didn't bother making any bogus predictions. We were alone, and she believed that I had a similar ability. The last thing she wanted was to be called out on her lying.

It wasn't that I doubted that she was a Seer; it was that I thought she wasn't a very good one. I'd heard private conversations by the other professors, and I'd looked into her class periodically over the past two years and I'd tried some of the things she suggested.

I hadn't had any luck, which was a pity. Being able to see the future would have been an incredible advantage, even if I had to find a way to record myself.

"So you determine who might be Seers," I said. "There's less than fifty Seers in all of Britain. That means that less than one in two hundred are actual Seers. Those other one hundred and ninety nine students are wasting their time, then."

"We wouldn't have a quarter the Seers we do if they weren't trained," she said.

I wasn't so sure.

Sometimes I suspected that all of the unique magical abilities were like my own; simple manifestations of accidental magic that the user had chosen to cultivate.

It would explain things like parseltongue, Seers and metamorphmagi.

There were flaws in that theory; sometimes the powers seemed to run in bloodlines.

I'd even wondered if all of the magical animals had originally been created by Wizards. Things like Trolls and House Elves could have been the result of human experimentation. Dragons could have been created from birds; the Dinosaurs' only living descendants.

I wasn't sure about that either. It was just as likely that the conditions that caused human magic to arise had altered animals in a similar way.

"In any case," I said. "Predictions of my doom are easy to make; I have someone trying to kill me at any given moment. I don't have time to look through tea leaves to try to guess if I'm going to die."

"Worse than death," she said in a portentous voice. "You'll become everyone's greatest fear."

"I already am," I said.

I left because I felt that neither of us had anything else to say.

Leaving the cultivation of Seers to chance seemed lackadaisical to me. Even if the class worked as advertised, how many students simply never chose the class?

Instead, teachers should be encouraged to watch out for whatever signs there might be. A reward to parents might do even more.

Reserving the class for those with the ability might be more efficient, assuming Seers were valued at all. Seeing the number of prophecies in the Ministry, I had to believe that they were.

"I still wish I could have taken Professor Burke's Muggle Studies class," Hermione said. "She's one of the better Professors as far as I can tell."

We weren't required to take the Wizarding Studies class any more. I was glad to see that Professor Burke had also taken over the Muggle Studies class; her version was much more informative and less biased than those I'd eavesdropped in previous years.

"It's not like you need the class," I said.

"It'd be interesting to see things from the Wizarding point of view."

"Maybe last year," I said. "Professor Burke is a lot more informative. Look over Ron's notes if you're really interested."

Ron had been upset when he'd discovered that Harry wasn't interested in Divination class; he'd been looking for an easy class to skate through the year with. Switching to muggle studies had been a compromise, but I suspected that it was actually going to do him some good.

She sniffed.

"I've seen his notes," she said. "He's not particularly thorough."

"Notes are just mnemonic devices anyway," I said. "As long as there's enough to jog your memory, you don't have to write everything down."

It helped that I could listen in to the next class if I missed something, of course.

Hermione ignored that.

"I'm surprised that you aren't taking Arithmancy. I'd have thought you'd want a more scientific method of determining the future."

"I plan to have a team of people to do that for me," I said.

From what I'd seen, Arithmancy seemed to work somewhat better than divination, but it required a great deal of mathematics, and it was terribly slow. If I'd been able to use a computer, I'd have been a lot more interested, or even a calculator.

"Ancient Runes will be enough for me," I said. "It's a requirement for becoming a curse breaker."

"You want to become a curse breaker?"

I shook my head.

"It's only a matter of time before they start trying to have me touch cursed objects. I need to learn watch out for."

"You aren't trying to learn how to make curses?" Hermione asked.

"I'm open to the idea," I admitted.

"Because I saw some of the books you took from the Black Mansion," she said. "They seemed pretty questionable."

"I managed to borrow a book or two," I said. "But I can only understand half of what I'm reading. I'll need Ancient Runes to make head or tale of it."

"It's dark magic, right?"

"Yes," I said levelly. "But dark doesn't necessarily mean evil. Almost any spell can be used for evil."

Before she could respond, we were in Moody's class.

We were his first class of the year, and so I wasn't sure what to expect; I hadn't had a chance to peek in and get a preview.

He was already in the room when we arrived, watching the assorted students with a gimlet eye.

He began calling our names out, one after the other. He didn't even ask my name, he simply glanced at me and moved on.

"Put your books away," he said. "You won't need them today."

We dutifully did as he said.

"I've looked over your last professor's notes," he said. He shook his head. "Looks like he didn't teach any of you anything you could actually use."

He taught me the memory charm, but I didn't mention that.

"Fortunately, many of you have extracurricular experience to make up for it. Unfortunately, that means that we have a wide gap in ability between some students."

Some of the Slytherins looked chagrined. Many had chosen to avoid joining my group for fear that making a stand would put their families in danger. Others simply didn't like me.

"Hebert here could probably teach this class, at least at a third year level."

No one argued with him.

"What's the most important thing a Wizard needs to be successful in combat?"

"Speed," Draco said.

"Accuracy," Hermione countered.

"Both are important," Moody said. "What's your answer, Miss Hebert?"

"Creativity," I said. "Although you often need speed and accuracy to follow through."

Moody nodded.

"Attack where they don't expect you, and half the battle is won. Most spells are legal; only three of them are considered Unforgivable. Does anyone know what they are?"

"The Imperius curse," Draco said.

"You'd know that one, wouldn't you?" Moody said. He stared at Draco. "Considering that your father was said to have been the victim of it during the last war."

"And half the Ministry during this one," Draco said. His face was impassive. "Including men that you worked with."

Moody nodded.

"Can't tell when somebody is under it, can you?" he said. "That's part of the horror. Could be your girlfriend, your parent, your best friend in the world, and they'd turn you over to the Dark Lord in a heartbeat just because a Wizard said a few words and waved his wand."

He pulled a spider from a jar; he had three there.

He proceeded to make the spider dance and perform a number of tricks.

A few of the students who weren't in my group laughed. They stopped laughing uneasily when they noticed that no one else was.

My people watched me, and followed along. The Ravenclaws who were muggleborn in the room understood the danger of the Imperius curse, and so did their friends.

"Got them trained, do you?" Moody muttered.

Part of me wanted to see if I could overcome his control of the spider, but he was too observant. Any deviation would be noticed and was too dangerous.

"There's ways to fight off the Imperius Curse, but it takes a real strength of will, and most don't have it. Better to avoid it."

He was silent for a moment.

"Anyone know of another illegal curse?"

"The Cruciatus," Millicent said. I'd sat beside her out of habit, with Hermione on my other side. We didn't share a class before this one and hadn't walked here together.

"At least one of your classmates has intimate experience with this spell," Moody said. "Some of you have parents or grandparents who were victims of it. Use it long enough, and you can leave your victim a drooling husk of a person."

He glanced at me.

"Or maybe something else."

He enlarged the spider, and proceeded to demonstrate why the Cruciatus was a horrible spell. I could feel the increasing discomfort in the room as the spider writhed in agony.

I was glad that Neville wasn't here; I'd be sure to warn him before his class was taught.

He shrank the spider and put it back in the jar.

"Hebert!" he said. "What is the last of the Unforgivables?"

"The Killing Curse," I said calmly.

He pulled out a fresh spider.

I watched his wand movements as he proceeded to kill the spider. I looked up to see Moody watching me.

"Aren't you committing a crime by showing these to us?" Hermione asked.

"I had special dispensation," Moody said. "And these are only considered unforgivable if used against another human being."

"So it's legal to use a Killing Curse on a House Elf, or a goblin or a Centaur?" I asked.

"It's still killing," he said. "But the means you use won't be the issue."

"Why is it considered more Unforgivable than any other way of killing people?" Draco asked. "Taylor here has killed a lot of people, and as far as anyone can tell, she never used a single Killing Curse."

"Which is why she isn't in Azkaban," Moody said. "Killing curse, and the Cruciatus both aren't normal spells. You have to mean them."

The room was quiet.

"You saw what I did to the spider. You have to want that to happen to another person. It's not enough just to be angry; you have to want it with every piece of your body and soul."

Everyone glanced back toward the dead spider except me.

"It's the same with a Killing curse. You have to really want someone dead. This entire classroom, except for Hebert here could point their wands at me and say the words and I'd barely get a stomach ache."

"Are you saying Taylor wants you dead?" Draco asked archly.

"She's killed a lot of people," Moody said. "I suspect it doesn't bother her much anymore."

"I've never killed anyone who wasn't attacking me," I lied.

"But you're more than willing," he said. "The Unforgivables require intent. You can't use them accidentally."

"I can see circumstances where two of the three could be used for good," I said.

"Oh?" Moody asked.

"Sometimes killing is a mercy, and the Killing Curse is painless."

"And the other curse?"

"Using the Imperius to find out where the Death Eaters are, so you can stop them."

"And you can't think of a reason to use the third curse?"

I shrugged.

"Torture is ineffective, mostly. People will tell you what they think you want to hear. Besides, as Wizards, we have better methods."

"Oh?"

"A simple confundus spell," I said. "Make them think you are their leader. The Imperius. Veritaserum, legilimency. Pensieves, assuming you can find a way to force them to use them."

"In answer to your question, there are times where the Ministry authorizes the use of two of the three spells," Moody said. "But never the Cruciatus."

I nodded.

"Death Eaters aren't the only bad wizards out there," Moody said. He glanced at me for some reason. "And all of them will happily use every dark curse they can on you. My job is to make sure that you know how to protect yourself, so that you don't die, or if you do, you die hard, and you make them pay for what they did to you."

The entire class was quiet, staring at him.

"The only real protection is Constant Vigilance!" He rapped his fist down on his desk, startling several of the students. "Hebert here knows all about that. I hear that she's been trying to drum that into the heads of half of you for a while. That just means the rest of you will have to work to catch up."

Pansy Parkinson raised her hand slowly.

"The Dark Lord doesn't want to hurt purebloods."

Moody gave her a withering look.

"He'll kill purebloods as easily as anyone," he said. "But even if that were true, do you trust all of his thugs to ask how pure your blood is before they gut you?"

Pansy looked disturbed at the idea.

"What happens if Hebert here manages to kill him and his people, and she decides that the purebloods are the problem?"

"Taylor's not a Dark Lady!" Hermione protested.

"Not now," Moody said. "But she wants to change things, and she's willing to get violent about it. It's great if you are in the group that she's protecting; the rest of you might not enjoy letting her have her way so much. Or maybe it's not her... it could be Miss Granger, or Mr. Malfoy."

The class stared at me, Hermione, and Draco as though they were considering how dangerous we might be. Draco's posture straightened, and he almost seemed like he was preening under the attention.

"There seems to be a new Dark Lord for every generation," Moody said. "And the next one might hate the people that this one stands up for. The only way to know that you are protected is to do it yourself."

No one seemed to want to argue against the idea of self defense. Even Pansy seemed cowed by him.

"You should start taking notes," he said.

We spent the rest of the hour talking about the three curses, including possible defenses against them, and ethical considerations.

I stayed late after class, gesturing for Hermione and Millicent to go on.

"Are you here to spy on me?" I asked.

"Have you done anything that you are worried about me spying on?" he asked, as he packed his papers into a rugged pack.

We looked at each other, and I grinned at him, and he grinned back. It made him somewhat uglier than he was without it.

"The old headmaster's friend believes that his master will attempt to take you and the Potter boy this school year. He'd been on the run for a while, and the Diagon Alley attack was a desperation ploy."

Was he talking about Snape?

"Harry is a symbol to people," I said slowly. "And me too, in some way. Killing us would make it easier for him to recruit."

That was likely truer of Harry than myself, but killing me would raise the morale in his own organization. It was possible that he had been hemorrhaging members.

Someone who wanted to leave only had to escape to another country, after all. If Voldemort was having manpower issues, he'd hardly send people after them.

If I were him, I'd put out a bounty and let someone else deal with it for me, but I doubted that he was that pragmatic.

"It's in the national interest to protect both of you," Moody said. "So I'm here."

I'd noticed an increased auror presence as well.

"The tournament is going to make it all a lot harder," Moody said. "There will be strangers allowed onto the grounds, and that always makes it easier to get someone in. Fortunately we know the schedule and we'll be able to plan around it."

I nodded.

"We'll do our best to keep strangers off the property as often as possible," he said. "But you should keep on your guard."

"Constant vigilance is my middle name," I said. "Taylor constant vigilance Hebert."

"Make sure that the boy is as watchful," he said. He was silent for a moment, and then he said "Get to class."