WARNING: This chapter is rated T for slight language and an inappropriate implication.

What You Never Knew

Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody: The Sane One

1. As a child, his favorite game was Hopscotch.

The other children in the neighborhood teased him about it- especially the other boys- but Alastor loved Hopscotch. Perhaps it was because of the fact that he had five older sisters. But looking back on it in later years, he never regretted playing Hopscotch; he became an expert, better than all of his sisters, and the game taught him impeccable aim, gave him a strong throwing arm, and brought out the natural agility, quickness, and balance in him.

Nevertheless, whenever someone asked him, "How do you move so fast?" he just replied that it took a lot of hard work and practice. (It wasn't a total lie.)

2. He idolized his father.

Not that he knew his father. Infestus Moody was the best Auror the Ministry of Magic had ever had. Any mission he was sent on, he succeeded. Dark wizards worldwide would hear his name and cringe in fear, because they all knew that, against him, they would lose. Infestus always won. Always.

And when he went on a mission while Alastor was still in his mother's womb, he still did exactly what the Ministry had sent him to do. He was just killed while doing it.

3. His third-eldest sister, Annalisa, taught him the saying, "Constant vigilance!"

It all started when Alastor was nine years old and his mother remarried. His new step-father was a tall, wide man who looked as though he had never smiled in his life. He was about as far from loving and caring as a person could get. But he was rich, and Alastor's mother didn't make much money from working at Flourish and Blotts.

At first, Alastor vowed to try to at least make friends with his new stepfather. The man was, after all, going to be a part of his life; so why not try to make the best of it? So he always passed Jeff the peas at dinnertime with a smile, tried to make him laugh with awful jokes, and even started conversations with him about Quidditch.

Then, something weird happened. Alastor had woken up in the middle of the night to his stomach rumbling. He was on his way to the kitchen when he saw something very strange. Jeff crept out of the room he shared with Alastor's mother, silent as a mouse, and walked in the direction of Alastor's sisters' rooms. Curious, Alastor followed him, taking care to be as stealthy as possible.

Finally, Jeff stopped in front of the door of Annalisa's bedroom. The sixteen-year-old was Alastor's oldest sister who still lived at home; Amelia and Alyssa had already graduated from Hogwarts and moved out. Before Alastor's eyes, Jeff opened Annalisa's door and snuck in, closing it behind him.

So, of course, Alastor had to eavesdrop.

With his ear up against the door, he heard Annalisa give a little shriek that was quickly stifled. "Shut up, you stupid girl," Jeff ordered in his deep, gravelly voice.

"What are you doing here?" Annalisa hissed back, and it was all too easy to tell that she was terrified. Alastor pressed his ear harder against the door.

"I told you to be quiet!" Then, there was the resounding sound of a slap, followed by total silence. "You will do what I say," Jeff continued, "and you won't tell anyone about this. Got it?"

"You aren't going to- Oh, no, you can't-" Annalisa whimpered, and Alastor stumbled back in shock. Never before had he heard his older sister, so strong and independent, sound so frightened and helpless before.

"I can, and I will, and nobody's going to find out about this," Jeff replied harshly.

"But-"

Suddenly, Annalisa was cut off, and her bed creaked. Alastor, horrified, ran off to his bedroom, having completely forgotten about his midnight snack.

The next morning, he woke up before everyone else and went to Annalisa's room. His sister was wide awake, sitting up, trembling, staring forward vacantly. Bruises covered her body, and her lips were swollen and red.

"Anna…" Alastor began, and her head abruptly whipped around to face him. "What did Jeff do to you?"

Annalisa was silent for a moment. Then, she motioned for Alastor to sit next to her on the bed, which he did immediately. His sister wrapped her arms around him, hugging him close to her, burying her face in his auburn hair, her tears dripping down like the trickles of a waterfall.

"Don't worry your little head about it, Al," Annalisa said after a few minutes. "Just- do something for me, okay? Three things, actually."

"Okay."

"First: stay away from Jeff. I know that you want to befriend him, but… it's safer for you to stay away from him. Understand?"

"Yes, Anna, but why-"

"Second," Annalisa interrupted him, "practice constant vigilance."

Alastor frowned. "What's constant vigilance?"

"It means always being alert, and always looking out for stuff. Never letting your guard down." Annalisa squeezed her brother's hand. "Do you promise to do that for me?"

"Of course."

"Good, good. Third… don't tell anyone about this."

Alastor looked her straight in the eye. "Anna, he hurt you-"

"And he'll hurt you if you tell anyone," Annalisa responded. "Please, Al- for me."

After a few moments, Alastor nodded. "Alright."

4. He loved Hogwarts.

In the two years since Alastor had made that awful discovery about Jeff, things at his home had been getting worse and worse. So turning eleven and going off to school was a welcome experience for him. When he was Sorted into Gryffindor and made more friends than he had ever thought possible, that only increased his love for Hogwarts. Magic fascinated him, and his study habits could often be compared to that of a Ravenclaw.

But the best thing about Hogwarts was that Annalisa never woke up with bruises.

5. He wanted to be a Healer.

He didn't want to die during a mission, leaving his family alone, like his father had. A Healer was, in his mind, the most respectable position a wizard could have besides being an Auror; besides, then he could learn to cure bruises, a skill which none of the Hogwarts teachers would teach him without first asking suspiciously, "Why do you want to know?"

But then, his eldest sister, Amelia, her husband, and her unborn child were murdered by a Dark wizard when he was in Seventh Year. As soon as he heard, he vowed to become a better Auror than even his father had been.

6. He was a murderer.

Yes, killing Dark wizards was a part of his job description; but he became a murderer even before he started his Auror training.

Ever since Annalisa moved out, Alicia started waking up with bruises. Then, once Alicia moved out, it was Amanda who woke up with bruises. All of them had refused to tell Alastor what was going on.

It happened when, just like every morning when Amanda woke up with bruises, eighteen-year-old Alastor asked her, "What did Jeff do to you?"

This time, though, Amanda's answer was different from her usual dismissal of the matter. The nineteen-year-old stared at Alastor for a long while, before finally saying, "You're a man now, Al; a smart man at that… surely you know already."

Alastor frowned, thinking hard. What would Jeff do to his sister in the middle of the night that would cause her to wake up with bruises and swollen lips? An option came to Alastor's mind that fit all the criteria, but it couldn't be; even Jeff couldn't be that vile. Nevertheless, Alastor had to ask. "Mandy… did Jeff… y'know…" he trailed off, not feeling comfortable saying it. His sister knew exactly what he meant though and, to his horror, nodded.

"Yes," she breathed, a lone tear trickling down her cheek. "Yes, he did."

For a few moments, all Alastor could do was stand there and gape at his sister. Then, anger washed over every fiber of his being like a flood. His eyes narrowed and he let out a low growl before he pulled his wand out of his pocket and dashed out of his sister's bedroom, ignoring her pleads telling him to stop, to not do it.

He ran down to the kitchen and his eyes rested solely on Jeff, not even noticing that his mother was in the room, and screamed at him, "YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

"Al!" His mother gasped, appalled. "Watch your language! What did Jeff do to you?"

"To me? Why don't you ask Anna what he did to her? Or Ali? Or Mandy?" Alastor shot back, his voice cutting like a knife. Jeff's eyes instantly flashed, piercing his stepson, who shouted back, "You don't deserve to walk on this earth, you sick, perverted bas-"

"Alastor! What is going on?" Alastor's mother yelled, setting down the plate she was washing and putting her hand on her hip.

"Ask him that!" Alastor cried back, pointing at Jeff with his wand in hand. "Ask him why he went into Anna's room in the middle of the night and she woke up with bruises and swollen lips! And then, when Anna moved, Ali! And now Mandy! Ask him why, Mum!"

Alastor's mother looked absolutely horrified, as if she wished that she didn't know what her son was implying. Slowly, she turned to her husband. "Jeff- is this true?"

"Of course not," Jeff answered swiftly. "Obviously, Alastor's head is playing games with him-"

"Don't you dare lie to her!" Alastor shrieked. "Don't believe him, Mum! Go see for yourself if you don't believe me! Go look at Mandy!"

"No!" Jeff exclaimed hurriedly. "Really, Abigail, there's no need-"

"Mum, don't listen to him! Go see for yourself!"

"No need," Mandy's voice said from the doorway. Alastor's mother instantly clapped her hand over her mouth in shock. Mandy stood there in just her underwear, displaying her black and blue body for all to see. She lifted up her hair and showed them the hickeys on her neck as well. "Al is telling the truth, Mum."

Abigail Moody turned to face her husband, but her eyes were filled with revulsion and anger. "I can't believe that you would do something this- this- disgusting! I can't believe I actually married you- and I didn't find out about this until now!"

"Please, Abigail- it's not what it looks like-"

"Yes it is! It's exactly what it looks like!" Alastor cut him off. "Just admit it already! You lost, Jeff!"

For a few moments, there was total silence. Then, Jeff spoke, while looking at Amanda hungrily, pure lust in his eyes. "It was worth it."

And then, before anyone knew what had happened, the green light had shot from Alastor's wand and hit Jeff straight in the chest, and he fell, his eyes wide and unseeing.

Later, at Alastor's trial, Amanda showed the judge her bruises, and both Alicia and Annalisa gave testimonies. Alastor's spell was instantly marked off as defense, and he was given a round of applause from the jury for saving his sisters.

7. He never fell in love.

Sure, he loved people. His mother and all five of his sisters, for example. But, even though he dated, he never found a girl that he could imagine spending the rest of his life with. Maybe it was because he had grown up around so many women that he was just sick of them. Maybe because he would probably make an awful father (in his opinion, anyways). He never felt much of a loss, to be honest.

8. During the First Wizarding War, something changed him.

That "something" was the murder of his entire family. His family was one of many that Voldemort decided he would pick off completely- after all, the Moody's were as big a lot of blood traitors as the McKinnons. Alastor was the only one that they were never able to capture; he was too skilled for them.

At his mother's funeral, and then Lyssa's, followed by Anna's and Ali's and Mandy's and countless other relatives, as Alastor gave a eulogy for each and every one of them, the tears streaming down his face weren't just sadness. They were guilt. Because he was the only one left, and he didn't deserve it.

9. Nymphadora Tonks was the daughter he never had.

At first, she was an exceedingly annoying Auror-in-training that he took under his wing after being badgered by Ted nonstop. Then, as he got to know her, he learned that her heart was as big as the sun, that she could make anyone- including him- laugh, that she was an extremely warm and comforting person who lit up a room. Eventually, he found that the mere sight of her gladdened him; and when she fought with an agility and quickness that took Alastor ages to teach her, his heart swelled up with pride.

So, when Remus Lupin started showing interest in her, Alastor had to give him The Talk. The look of terror on the werewolf's face afterwards did the Auror's heart good to see.

10. There was only one thing that he regretted about his death.

It wasn't that he had died in battle, defending Harry- and the fate of the Wizarding World- with his last breath. It was that he had never told any of his friends that he actually did care about them, despite his gruff manners towards them most of the time.

Not to mention that he even get to see Teddy.

Alastor Moody was many things. He was a dangerously skilled wizard; he was a loving sibling and son; he was a strict teacher; and he had a tendency to get angry and serious over even the littlest of things. But despite what everyone thought, he was not crazy. One of his eyes was; but not his mind. He always had a good reason for doing what he did. And so, Alastor Moody was The Sane One, because throughout everything, he always kept his head. Even if he didn't always act like it.

First of all, I deeply apologise if any of you were offended by the language or implication in this chapter. In my mind, it takes a lot to make a person as hard-shelled and gruff and serious as Alastor. If all goes as planned, NO OTHER CHAPTERS WILL BE RATED T. So, please, don't stop reading my story because of this one!

Second... what'd you think? Please tell me in a review!

Third, I'm so sorry for not updating in so long! I couldn't think of anything good to write!

Okay, I think that's it! As usual, thanks for reading, and PLEASE review!

-Joelle8