Chapter 5
As luck, or misfortune, would have it, the Slytherins' first Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons fell on the same day. This meant that Hermione had to figure out how to get detention with Professor Snape, and avoid any unnecessary interactions with Professor Moody. They had Defense Against the Dark Arts immediately after breakfast, and headed there early, though not early enough that they would be the first students in the room. Pansy had lagged a bit behind, talking to a few members of the Slytherin Quidditch team. Hermione warned her to keep track of time, but she trusted her friend not to be late.
When they entered, Moody was nowhere to be seen, though the room was almost full of students. Word spread of Moody's first lesson, and everyone was quite excited to see what this renowned Auror had to teach.
"I just talked to Adrian," Pansy said, breathlessly, sitting down next to Hermione, "He had Defense this morning, and you'll never guess what Moody's about to make us do."
The rumors had been flying around the school about the lesson, but most of them had been exaggerations started by the older members of Gryffindor House. Hermione knew that Adrian would have given Pansy the real details.
"What?" She whispered back, nudging Draco to get his attention.
"He's going to teach us about the—" Pansy started, cutting off when Blaise cleared his throat dramatically, gesturing in front of him. The room had gone silent as the former Auror's office door opened and he began to head slowly down the stairs. Whatever they were about to learn must have been important, for Pansy tried to speak again,
"He's been using Un—"
Hermione shushed her, as Moody's fake eye rotated around the room, landing on them. She felt a pressure in her mind again, less subtle this time and a lot more aggressive. It was a silent dare to show her strength again, because he was using a more forceful tactic. She gasped quietly, unable to hide the brief wince of pain as he tried to push his way into her mind.
"Hermione, what's wrong?" Draco asked, but she waved him off quickly, never breaking eye contact with Moody as he continually tried to break through her shields. He pressed again, harder this time, causing Hermione to groan audibly.
The entire exchange had only taken moments and only six students in the classroom had noticed it—Hermione's friends, and predictably, the so-called Golden Trio. The Gryffindors had been watching every move the Slytherins had made that week, so it wasn't surprising that they had caught on to this confrontation as well. Moody gave up, but he was petulant about it, Hermione could tell, as he violently left her mind. She let her head fall into her arms, which were resting on the desk, regrettably not able to deny herself a brief moment of weakness.
She could hear Pansy whispering to her, asking if she was okay, and when she raised her head back up, she noticed Draco and Blaise's dark glares at the former Auror.
"I'm fine," she whispered, "remember—don't do anything stupid, no detentions."
Moody began to speak, "I've looked through your coursework for the past three years, and it looks like you've learned quite a bit about Dark creatures. However, curses," he paused, "Curses, it seems you are behind on. So, we'll be focusing on that first—starting with the worst of them. Can anyone tell me the term given to the three curses that will land you immediately in Azkaban?"
A few people raised their hands. Moody pointed toward the Weasel,
"Arthur Weasley's son, aren't you?"
"Yes, sir."
"A good man," Moody replied, before gesturing for him to answer the question.
"They're called the Unforgiveable Curses."
"Name one of them, and we'll start there."
"My dad did tell me about one, the Imperius Curse."
Moody nodded, with a thoughtful expression on his face, "Yes, the Imperius Curse gave the Ministry a lot of trouble. I was hoping we would start with this one. Now, we're going to start with the basics, before I test your strengths."
Test our strengths, he can't mean what that sounds like…
"The Imperius Curse takes control out of the victim's hands—giving all the power to the person casting the curse. It is nearly undetectable when used properly, which is what caused the Ministry so many problems. When Voldemort disappeared, the Ministry had dozens of Death Eaters claiming that they only joined the Dark Lord, because they were under the influence of the Imperius curse. Their problem was how to sort out who was telling the truth, and who was lying.
"Now, if it were up to the Ministry, that would be all I would tell you about the matter. However, I think that's wrong—I think, that you need to be taught how to fight these curses, how to fight back! Do I have any volunteers to go first?"
The room was silent, unsure what he was asking.
"Don't worry, you'll all be doing it, and we'll be practicing the next few lessons."
His eyes scanned the room, looking for a volunteer. No one moved to raise their hands, and finally, as Hermione had expected, his gaze landed on her.
"Miss Granger, is it?" He asked, with a challenge in his voice. So predictable, Hermione thought to herself, smirking to show that she wasn't threatened by him.
"Yes, sir."
"I think I've met your father once or twice before."
Hermione got to her feet, ignoring the jab. Back when the Aurors were trying to get evidence on her father's allegiance to the Dark Lord, he had been questioned by Moody several times, before they had left the country. She walked up to the front of the room, stopping a few feet away from him.
"Perhaps," she replied, casually, "he's a popular man."
Moody raised his wand, pointing it at Hermione.
"Now, there is no shame in not being able to fight the curse," he told her, condescendingly, "but give it a try."
Hermione tried to suppress her smile. After a long summer with the Dark Lord, she was well trained in fighting off the Imperius Curse. All Hermione had to figure out was if she wanted to show him that or if she wanted him to think that she was weaker than she looked. She knew that the Dark Lord told her not to show him her strengths, but her ego was getting the best of her. She wanted him to know she was a worthy adversary.
"Imperio." He murmured. She felt a sensation in her mind, very light and a complete contrast to the roughness of his Legilimency. Jump up and down, a foreign voice ordered. No, I'm fine, thanks, she replied, but the foreign voice repeated the order. I don't really want to, sorry. The voice paused, tell me about Voldemort. The floating sensation that occurred when under the Imperius curse got stronger as he increased the intensity of the curse. No, I don't think I will.
How did he return?
Hermione began to get lightheaded under the forcefulness of the Imperio. She was gasping in breaths, trying to keep herself under control. Black spots began to fill her vision, and Hermione blinked furiously trying to regain her sight. What are you hiding? What are his plans?
She vaguely heard the sound of someone scraping their chair back and getting up. A figure walked toward her, though she couldn't quite make out who it was. Where is he? Who brought him back?
Draco reached her as she began to lose her balance, grabbing her as she fell.
"That's enough," he hissed, helping her back to her feet. He wrapped an arm around her waist, helping her back to her chair. She was shaking, grabbing onto his shirt for support.
"Very good," Moody said, unenthusiastically, "Miss Granger was able to fight off the Imperius Curse—very rare for someone so young, so I don't expect anyone else to be able to. Now, who wants to go next?"
Hermione didn't know how she got back to her seat, unaware of anything that had happened after she began to fall. She didn't look at Moody, not wanting to risk him trying to use Legilimency on her while she was still feeling weak. Luckily for her, it took a lot of focus for him to use the Imperius Curse on the remainder of the students. He was going easy on his Legilimency earlier, she thought to herself, trying to catch me off guard—so I wouldn't realize how powerful he is. Hermione knew that her Occlumency was strong, but it was going to take a lot of power to keep this up all year.
Hermione was feeling a bit better by the time it was Potter's turn to go under the curse. The lesson was about to be over, and only Hermione, Draco, Pansy and Blaise had been able to fight it off. It had been rather amusing watching their classmates struggle, but Hermione was curious to see how Potter fared.
"Imperio." Moody murmured. Hermione watched Potter's expression clear as the curse hit and he grinned dreamily. However, she saw his expression change as he begun to fight the curse, finally ending up sprawled out on the floor. Hermione couldn't really figure out if that made it a success, or failure.
"Good work, Mr. Potter," Moody said, "You almost had it. Try again."
He put Potter under the curse three more times, until he successfully fought it off. Hermione was impressed by his natural ability, as much as she hated to admit it.
The lesson ended, and Draco helped Hermione to her feet.
"Miss Granger, a word, please."
Hermione froze, and Draco's grip on her waist tightened. Already he wants to see me alone, what a great start. Hermione walked up to Moody's desk, not turning around, as she already knew her friends hadn't moved. Not quite alone, then, she assured herself.
"Alone." He clarified, glaring at her friends, "that's an order."
Hermione took a deep breath to prepare herself for what was about to be a very challenging conversation.
Author's Note: Here's another chapter, with Hermione's first close-up interaction with Moody! I really liked this chapter, so I hope you all did too. Please review and tell me what you think! I really, REALLY, want to hear what you liked, didn't like, etc.!
Thanks to zombiekins5948, Bobbie1776, Super MKatR, SuperWhoLockGirl10, AmayaBlack, Isabella Nicole Night, Ramyfan, Aeireis, Aghaliam, , Pank98, Midnight Little One, and two guests for reviewing the last chapter!
CLARIFICATION: Because a lot of people have been asking—Professor Moody is Professor Moody. The Dark Lord is back, doesn't need Harry to be in the Triwizard Tournament to get his blood, and already has spies inside of Hogwarts. He doesn't need Barty Crouch Jr. to impersonate him. So, just so we're all on the same page, BCJ is not at Hogwarts, it really is Alastor Moody.