Throughout the first few days of classes, everyone had been enthusing over Moody's Defense Against the Dark Arts class. So we were more than eager to get in there Thursday after lunch. The Gryffindors and Slytherins filed into the room, everyone bubbling with eagerness. Over the years, I've come to notice each teacher has a different style when it comes to decorating. Quierll's was dark, musty, and smelled highly of garlic. Lockhart's was filled with millions upon millions of pictures of himself. Lupin's was pretty normal for a classroom, strange animals in jars every so often.

Moody had gone with a Lupin-like style. The front desk was filled with bags and creatures in jars and bins.

We took our seats, Harry and I next to each other of course, waiting with anticipation. The door shut suddenly causing us all to look back quickly. When we turned back around we saw Moody standing in front of a small chalk board. Whoa! When the bloody hell did he get there? He picked up a piece of chalk and scribbled Moody on it.

"Alastor Moody," he grumbled, facing the class again. "Ex-auror. Ministry malcontent, and you're new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I am here because Dumbledore asked me to. End of story, goodbye, the end. Any questions?" He looked around the class, his magical eye zooming around. The class sat quietly not responding.

"When it comes to the Dark Arts, I believe in a practical approach," he continued turning back to the chalkboard. "Now, who can tell me, how many Unforgivable Curses they are?"

Unforgivable Curses? I guess it'll come as no surprise that Alexa hadn't told me anything about them four year ago when I was scared and angry at everyone. I looked over at Harry who seemed just as in the dark as I was. Maybe these curses were really terrible, and that's why Alexa hadn't said anything. Maybe she herself, as a twelve year old, hadn't known anything about them either.

"Th-three, sir," Hermione chocked out.

"And they are so named?"

"Cause they are unforgivable." Well duh. I could've figured that one out on my own. "The use of any one of them…"

"Will earn you a one way ticket to Azkaban! Correct. Now, they Ministry says you're too young to see what these curses do, but I say different! You need to know what you're up against, you need to be prepared…you need to find a different place to put your chewing gum besides the underside of your desk, Mr. Finnigan!" The entire class looked back at a wide eyed Seamus. Whoa, he's not even facing the class (Moody, that is).

"Ah, now way. The old codger can see outta the back of his head," I barely heard Seamus whisper to Dean next to him.

"And hear across class rooms!" Moody shouted, turning around and hurtling an eraser at him. I turned back around stifling a laugh in fear that Moody's magical eye would do something wicked scary, like shoot a laser at me or something. "Now, which curse shall we see first? Weasley!"

"Y-yes?" Ron squeaked from the table in front of us.

"Stand!" Ron stood up slowly, shaking. "Give us a curse."

"Well…m-my dad did tell me about one. Th-the Imperius Curse."

"Ah your father would know all about that," Moody said with a nod. "Gave the Ministry quite a bit of grief a few years ago. Perhaps this will show you why." Moody limped back to the front of the room, allowing Ron to sit down quickly. Erm…what exactly are we gonna see? He's not actually gonna show us these curses, is he? Demonstrate them? In front of our class? He's a lot madder that I thought. He pulled out an insect from a jar, a canclo to be exact, in the front of the room and held it in his hand.

"Engrogio," he mumbled, the bug instantly growing larger. "Imperio!" He moved his wand, the bug following it in mid-air. He started making it move all across the room and began antagonizing the students. He made it crawl over Parvati Patil's shoulders and landed it on top of Ron's face. Ron freaked out until he changed victims and chose me. It started moving up on my arm and close to my neck. Now, I'm not afraid of bugs or insects really, but I hate the feeling of anything crawling around my arms and neck (except Harry's hand xP. Ohhh that's bad :B) I squealed girlishly, shrugging my shoulders up. Malfoy, that stupid prick, and his goonies began laughing at my misfortunes.

"Think that's funny, do you? Don't worry, she's completely harmless. But when she bites…she's lethal," Moody cackled. Meeeeeeeeh that's exactly what I want to hear to make me feel better. Moody suddenly sent the creature straight onto Malfoy's face. The Gryffindors began cheering and clapping loudly. Ohhh thank dead God! (Starship reference, sorry :3)

"Talented, isn't she? What shall I have her do next?" Moody laughed. He flicked his wand at the window quickly, the insect following of course. "Jump out the window? Drown herself?" He lowered her slowly until the insect was hovering only centimeters, millimeters even, above a small bucket of water. The entire class was watching with great intent. He brought the insect back to his hand along with the classes gaze.

"Scores of witches and wizards have claimed they only did You-Know-Who's bidding under influence of the Imperius Curse. But here's the rub. How do we sort out the liars? Another, another," Moody said looking around at the class. One by one, a dozen hands slowly rose into the air.

"Longbottom, isn't it? Professor Sprout (PAMONA!) tells me you have an aptitude for Herbology," Moody said to Neville (obviously). He nodded slightly before continuing.

"There's the uhm…the Cruciatus C-curse," Neville said, slightly unsure of himself.

"Correct! Come…come come," Moody said, beckoning Neville to the desk and placing the creature onto the desk. "Particularly nasty this one. The torture curse. Crucio!" The creature instantly began shrieking in pain writhing in pain on the table. I flinched with just about every other girl in the room. That poor poor creature! I've never been tortured personally, but I've seen my fair share of Saw movies. Like…all of them. So take every torture and painful scene in those movies, add them together, and you might have half of what the animal was feeling. It's crying grew louder and more depressed. I closed my eyes wishing it would stop. I felt a warm hand on mine causing me to look up.

"You okay?" Harry asked me quietly, looking me in the eye. I shook my head slowly, looking from him back down.

"No. I-it's awful," I replied quietly.

"Stop! Can't you see it's hurting him? Stop!" Hermione burst out. I looked up to the front quickly wondering what was happening. Neville was standing with his back to me and the class looking down at the creature in pain. Despite the fact I couldn't see his face, I had a feeling it was bunched up in emotional pain. Moody, on the other hand, had a look of pure pleasure on his face, like he enjoyed torturing.

He suddenly registered Hermione's words, looked from the insect to Neville, and released the curse. Neville sat back down slowly, still shaken up. I exhaled slowly, relieved the poor animal wasn't being tortured anymore., Moody picked up the insect and lied it down on Hermione's desk.

"Would you care to give us the last Unforgivable Curse, Miss Granger?" Moody said, almost tauntingly. Tears in her eyes, Hermione bit her lip and shook her head 'no'.

"No? Well then…Avada Kedavra!" I jumped back at the ferocity in Moody's voice as a flash of green light shot from his wand and hitting the creature, causing it to fall onto Hermione's desk…dead. I swallowed, my hand shaking in Harry's. Harry! I looked over at him an found him staring at the dead creature.

"The Killing Curse," Moody continued, sounding distant from me. "Only one person has known to survived it…and he's sitting in this room." I looked at Harry who was still looking at the canclo on Hermione's desk and still holding my hand, more for his sake than mine though. We both looked up as Moody had mad his way to the front of our desk, standing and looking down on Harry. He pulled out his flask and took a swig just the way he had before.

The bell signaling the end of our class suddenly rang. Our whole class sat in an awkward silence.

"Well…don't you all have somewhere else to be?" Moody grumbled snapping us all out of our transfixed state. "Don't just sit here like a bunch of buffoons. Go!" Many students jumped out of their seats, gathering their stuff quickly and leaving just as fast. Moody limped back to his desk leaving Harry and I. I stood up slowly, pulling Harry with me.

"Brilliant, isn't he?" Ron gushed as we were walking out the door. "Completely demented, of course. Terrifying to be in the same room as him, but he's really been there, y'know? He's looked evil in the eye."

"There's a reason those curses are Unforgivable Ron. To perform them in front of a classroom. I mean, did you see Neville's face-" Hermione started until Harry and I hit her lightly. Standing at the window, looking out across the grounds, was Neville himself looking quite gloom.

"Neville? You alright?" I asked quietly, placing my hand on his shoulder. He stayed quiet, still looking out the window.

"You alright, son?" Moody grumbled, shoving me out of the way and knocking me into Harry. "Come on, son. We'll have a cup of tea. I want to show you something." He turned back around, Harry pulling me out of his path, Neville following him after a second of hesitation.

"Come on, we don't wanna miss dinner," Ron said already descending the stairs. Of course. He's thinking of food at a time like this.

Saturday finally rolled around, relieving us with our first weekend since we'd been back. Hermione, being Hermione, had rushed off to the library after breakfast to get started on our arithmancy and potions essays even though they weren't due for another week. Ron had decided that he'd spend his day buy hopelessly gawking at the older students as they entered into the Tournament before tonight.

"Well, what shall you and I get up to today?" Harry asked, turning to me after the other two had left.

"Well…I dunno exactly. We could always get a group together and play a game of red rover," I suggested.

"Actually," Harry said, taking my hands and pulling me closer to him. "I was thinking about something that you and I could do. Just, you and I."

"Oh," I said realizing what he meant. "You mean like a…a date?"

"Sure, if you want to call it that. Then yes, a date," Harry said with a smile. I bit my bottom lip and looked down before looking back up.

"So, what exactly did you have in mind for our 'date?" I asked smiling.

"Well, I dunno. We could go for a simple walk, sit under a tree by the lake. There's not much to do on the grounds, and it's not a Hogsmede weekend. I mean, if you don't find it lame just sitting together and taking in each others company," he said.

"No, not at all. As long as I'm with you, I'm happy," I said with a smile. Harry smiled too and pulled me into a hug. Did that sound to sappy? I thought as we hugged. I mean, I like him, obviously, but…could that have been a little too much?

"I brought some of the board games I got for my last birthday. They're up in my trunk if you wanna play some," I suggested, hoping to diffuse the embarrassment I suddenly felt. Harry agreed to my suggestion and waited downstairs while I went up to fetch the games. We wouldn't want another mishap like we did last year, now would me.

I guess I should explain, shouldn't I?

At one point last year, when Harry was still trying to 'whoo' me, he got the bright idea to leave me a cute surprise and decorate my bed with sweets and flowers. Well, no one had told us that the Founders apparently hadn't trusted the male students around the girls' sleeping areas. Harry took two steps up the stairs to the girls dormitory before the stairs flattened beneath him and sent him sliding back down the Common Room on his arse. Needless to say, he was a bit put off and embarrassed after that encounter and stopped trying to, as I said, 'whoo' me for awhile.

Hours later we found ourselves sitting together under a tree on the grounds, playing a rousing game of Battleship. The sound of thunder echoed across the grounds as Harry took his turn.

"Hm," he muttered as he examined his own game board. "B6."

"Dammit," I cursed under my breath. "Hit. Go on, take your extra turn." I pulled out a red piece and marked my hit ship.

"Alright, B...," he paused, searching for his next kill, "B7."

"Hit."

"B8?"

"Hit."

"B9?"

"Hit."

"And B10," Harry finished, a sly smile on his face.

"Dammit, Harry. You just sank my battleship!" I said frustrated, placing a final red piece in my now sunk battleship.

"And I do believe that means I win," he said triumphantly.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I can't believe I lost! I had the perfect game plan," I said staring at my lost game.

"You put all your ships in two straight lines at the very front. I took out your entire fleet in," he paused to glance down at his watch," twelve minutes. Not the greatest strategy I've ever seen."

"You got lucky," I fussed.

"You're really a poor loser, aren't you?" Harry asked amused.

Before I could come up with some sarcastic remark or tackle Harry to the ground, a flash of lightning streaked the sky followed by a faint rumble of thunder and sudden downpour.

"Why does it always rain here?" I asked as I stood up.

"Come on, let's get inside before we get drenched," Harry said, standing up next to me. I looked at him for a few seconds, letting the rain around us continue to fall at increasing speeds.

"Too late. Hey look! Now all of our ships are sinking," I said with a sarcastic smile. He gave me that look that I've come to realize all my friends give me. That look that said he was unappreciative of my sarcasm. He wrapped his arm around my neck and kissed me quickly. He pulled back and smiled at me. It was short, sweet, and sent butterflies loose in my stomach.

"C'mon, let's get inside before my game gets ruined."

After we were back inside all nice, warm, and changed, we went to join Ron in the Hall as he watched seventeen year old after seventeen year old entering their name into the Goblet.

"Eternal glory. Be brilliant, wouldn't it? In three years when we're old enough to enter," Ron said as we slowly walked towards the Goblet. I watched Cedric approach the Goblet, step gracefully through the Age Line and submit his name into the blue flames. He stepped out of the circle and was immediately incased by a group of ecstatic Hufflepuffs. I scanned the group absentmindedly until I saw the unmistakable face of Sage among them. She, like many of the other girls, had a huge 'swooney girl' smile. She, from what I've been hearing, fancied him like no other person could. She wasn't really in love with him, she didn't even really like him. But you know, older, popular, good looking boys, some people can't stay away from them.

"Rather you than me," I added, turning my attention from my silly sister. "Actually, rather you than either me or Harry." I really didn't want Harry to enter any tournament as deadly as this one.

"Just because you're his girlfriend doesn't mean you can make decisions for him," Ron said offensively.

"Thanks, Ron," Harry grumbled sarcastically. "I can handle myself. But she's right. I'd rather sit that one out."

"But come on, Harry. Eternal glory!" Ron said, his eyes widening.

"Hey, eternal glory. Already got it," Harry had with a fake big shot grin. Before anyone else could say something, Fred and George came running into the Hall, receiving thunderous applause from students.

"Cooked it up just this morning," George said as he and his brother were having their hands shook, and being patted on the back.

"It's not going to work," Hermione sang from a nearby bench, looking up from her book.

"Oh ya," Fred said as he knelt on one side of Hermione.

"And why's that, Granger?" George asked from the other.

"See this? This is an Age Line," Hermione said, referencing to the glowing blue light around the Goblet. "Dumbledore drew it himself."

"So?" the boys asked together.

"So," Hermione huffed, closing her book and slamming it down on her legs, "a genius like Dumbledore, couldn't possibly be fooled by a dodge as so pathetically dim witted, as an aging potion."

"But that's why it's so brilliant," Fred said.

"Because it's so pathetically 'dim witted'," George added. The two stood up from Hermione's side, leaving her still mad at their ignorance. The two began shaking the vials, making sure the contents were mixed up and ready. "Ready, Fred?"

"Ready, George. Bottoms up." The two linked arms and sucked down their potions. They jumped down from the bench, over the age line, and landed on the stone floor. The Hall, excluding Hermione of course, burst out into cheers and applause, excited that two underage boys were this far past the age line. The boys played it up a bunch, enjoying the attention. The Hall was suddenly quiet as Fred and George lifted their arms up, about to submit their names.

"One…two…three," they said together, dropping their names in simultaneously. Everything was silent for a second or so, until it seemed like they'd done it. We all burst out into applause again, this time louder then before. Fred and George high-fived gleefully before the Age Line constricted and expanded again, shooting Fred and George out of it and to the back of the Hall. The mood in the room had shifted from excitement to unease in a matter of seconds. I looked, wide-eyed and unsure, from Harry to Ron, both of whom were sporting the same looks. I glanced over at Hermione, who was trying to stifle a laugh and a sly smile. Everyone turned around to look at Fred and George, who were starting to sit up shakily. Quickly growing on their faces, were identical long, white beards. The two looked at each other, one would think to laugh at their misfortunes. Instead, they narrowed their bushy, white eyebrows at each other, angry.

"You said!" They shouted at each other, before they tacked one another. The two brothers began rolling on top of each other, angry, upset, disappointed, humiliated, take your pick, it doesn't really matter, and pulling each others beards. The group in the Hall gathered around the two brothers and started laughing and egging them on. It was quite funny, watching these two pranksters rolling on each other and fighting.

We could have stood there all day watching them, but before we got too far, I felt the atmosphere around us change. I looked back towards the Goblet and the doors, to see Krum walking steadily and determined into the Hall, flanked by Karkaroff and another boy. Harry, seeming to sense my change in focus, looked at me, then followed my gaze to Krum. The rest of the group too sensed the change and focus and turned around, instantly getting quiet. He walked straight up to the Goblet, through the Age Line, and submitted his name. He turned to leave, but slowed down when he noticed Hermione sitting there watching him, like everyone else. He gave her a small wink, before continuing out to rejoin Karkaroff and the other boy.