Chapter 7: Ferret

September 2, 2001

Buffy sat as she had the day before between Harry and Dawn at the Gryffindor table. Buffy was chewing on her bacon when Harry suddenly began to sputter. "Something wrong, Harry," Buffy asked.

Harry shook his head and handed her the copy of the Daily Prophet he had been reading. Buffy took the paper and her eyes widened at the headline on the front page.

Boy Who Lived, Not the only Potter!

Imagine our surprise when word was given to us that the Boy Who Lived was not the only living Potter. That's right. Our special sources have informed us that Harry Potter, long believed to be the only survivor of the killing curse cast by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, has both a twin sister and an older sister. Elizabeth Potter, also know by her adopted name of Buffy, is the first-born child of Lily and James Potter. The young couple had their daughter, Buffy, at the age of sixteen, while attending England's most noted school of magic, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The Potters knew that they were too young to keep Buffy, so she was given up for adoption to a muggle adoption agency.

Harry Potter's twin sister is that of Dawn Potter. We tried to find records on her birth, but memory charms performed by Hogwarts Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, erased all evidence so as to protect her from He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. The only reason he reportedly didn't do that for Harry Potter was a supposed prophecy about the Boy Who Lived. Dawn Potter was then sent to her elder sister just as Harry Potter was sent to his muggle aunt and uncle.

It was only recently at the death of their adoptive mother that Buffy and Dawn sought out their brother, Harry, and took him from their muggle relatives that Harry stayed with during the summers. All three of them are currently at Hogwarts as the term has begun, where Buffy is the counselor and Dawn and Harry are students in their fourth years. (Continued on Page, 3).

Buffy sat the paper down on the table. She looked at the offending article in disgust. "They could have at least asked if we wanted this information revealed," she said.

"I think since Dumbledore made that announcement yesterday that its pretty much public knowledge now," Harry admitted. "Besides this solves the problem with Dawn having to explain about the Key."

"He's right, Buffy," Dawn agreed.

Slowly the Great Hall started to thin out as students made their way to their classes. The Professors followed suit. Buffy stood and looked around when Harry and Dawn finally left with Ron and Hermione. She wasn't sure where her office would be.

"Allow me to escort you to your office, Buffy," Dumbledore said as he walked over to her.

Buffy joined him and together they left the Great Hall. They walked down the hallway then up a staircase. They passed the Defense Against the Dark Arts Classroom till they came to a door painted white. There was an opaque window built in the door and on the glass was written Prof. Buffy Potter, School Guidance Counselor.

"Welcome to your new office," said Dumbledore, opening the door. The office was just as comfy as her suite had been. There was even a large window that overlooked the lake along the back wall. "I took the liberty of making it comfortable for you. Our last counselor left it in… somewhat of a mess."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Later that day in the courtyard.

"Weasley! Hey, Weasley!"

Harry, Dawn, Ron, and Hermione turned. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were standing there, each looking thoroughly pleased about something.

"What?" said Ron shortly.

"Your dad's in the paper, Weasley!" said Malfoy, brandishing a copy of the Daily Prophet and speaking very loudly, so that everyone in the packed entrance hall could hear. "Listen to this!

FURTHER MISTAKES AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC

It seems as though the Ministry of Magic's troubles are not yet at an end, writes Rita Skeeter , Special Correspondent . Recently under fire for its poor crowd control at the Quidditch World Cup, and still unable to account for the disappearance of one of its witches, the Ministry was plunged into fresh embarrassment yesterday by the antics of Arnold Weasley, of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office."

Malfoy looked up.

"Imagine them not even getting his name right, Weasley. It's almost as though he's a complete nonentity, isn't it?" he crowed.

Everyone in the entrance hall was listening now. Malfoy straightened the paper with a flourish and read on:

Arthur Weasley, who was charged with possession of a flying car two years ago, was yesterday involved in a tussle with several Muggle law-keepers ("policemen") over a number of highly aggressive dustbins. Mr. Weasley appears to have rushed to the aid of "Mad-Eye" Moody, the aged ex-Auror who retired from the Ministry when no longer able to tell the difference between a handshake and attempted murder. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Weasley found, upon arrival at Mr. Moody's heavily guarded house, that Mr. Moody had once again raised a false alarm. Mr. Weasley was forced to modify several memories before he could escape from the policemen, but refused to answer Daily Prophet questions about why he had involved the Ministry in such an undignified and potentially embarrassing scene.

"And there's a picture, Weasley!" said Malfoy, flipping the paper over and holding it up. "A picture of your parents outside their house - if you can call it a house! Your mother could do with losing a bit of weight, couldn't she?"

Ron was shaking with fury. Everyone was staring at him.

"Get stuffed, Malfoy," said Harry. "C'mon, Ron…"

"Oh yeah, you were staying with them this summer, weren't you, Potter?" sneered Malfoy. "So tell me, is his mother really that porky, or is it just the picture?"

Dawn had enough, "Why you no good idiot. You know your mother, Malfoy? That expression she's got, like she's got shit under her nose? Has she always looked like that, or was it just because you were with her?" she shouted at Malfoy as she suddenly began visibly glowing green.

Harry's eyes went wide, this was the first time he had ever seen the green glow that Dawn had said only serpents and crazy people could see. "Ron, Hermione," he whispered. "Do you see the glow around Dawn?"

Ron and Hermione both nodded at the fact they could see it as well.

"Don't you dare insult my mother, Potter," Malfoy said angrily.

"Keep your fat mouth shut, then," said Dawn, turning away as the green glow started to fade away.

BANG!

Several people screamed – Harry saw something white-hot graze the side of Dawn's face - he plunged his hand into his robes for his wand with the intention of protecting his sister from Malfoy. But before he'd even touched it, he heard a second loud BANG, and a roar that echoed through the entrance hall.

"OH NO YOU DON'T, LADDIE!"

Harry and Dawn spun around. Professor Moody was limping down the marble staircase. His wand was out and it was pointing right at a pure white ferret, which was shivering on the stone-flagged floor, exactly where Malfoy had been standing.

There was a terrified silence in the entrance hall. Nobody but Moody was moving a muscle. Moody turned to look at Dawn - at least, his normal eye was looking at Dawn; the other one was pointing into the back of his head.

"Did he get you?" Moody growled. His voice was low and gravelly.

"No," said Dawn, "missed."

"LEAVE IT!" Moody shouted.

"Leave - what?" Harry said, bewildered.

"Not you - him!" Moody growled, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at Crabbe, who had just frozen, about to pick up the white ferret. It seemed that Moody's rolling eye was magical and could see out of the back of his head.

Dawn looked at Harry who shrugged just as confused as she was.

Moody started to limp toward Crabbe, Goyle, and the ferret, which gave a terrified squeak and took off, streaking toward the dungeons.

"I don't think so!" roared Moody, pointing his wand at the ferret again - it flew ten feet into the air, fell with a smack to the floor, and then bounced upward once more. "I don't like people who attack when their opponent's back's turned. Especially when the person their attacking is a girl." growled Moody as the ferret bounced higher and higher, squealing in pain. "Stinking, cowardly, scummy thing to do…"

The ferret flew through the air, its legs and tail flailing helplessly.

"Never - do - that - again -" said Moody, speaking each word as the ferret hit the stone floor and bounced upward again.

"Professor Moody!" said a shocked voice.

Professor McGonagall was coming down the marble staircase with her arms full of books.

"Hello, Professor McGonagall," said Moody calmly, bouncing the ferret still higher.

"What - what are you doing?" said Professor McGonagall, her eyes following the bouncing ferret's progress through the air.

"Teaching," said Moody.

"Teach - Moody, is that a student?" shrieked Professor McGonagall, the books spilling out of her arms.

"Yep," said Moody.

"No!" cried Professor McGonagall, running down the stairs and pulling out her wand; a moment later, with a loud snapping noise, Draco Malfoy had reappeared, lying in a heap on the floor with his sleek blond hair all over his now brilliantly pink face. He got to his feet, wincing.

"Moody, we never use Transfiguration as a punishment!" said Professor McGonagall. "Surely Professor Dumbledore told you that?"

"He might've mentioned it, yeah," said Moody, scratching his chin unconcernedly, "but I thought a good sharp shock -"

"We give detentions, Moody! Or speak to the offender's Head of House!"

"I'll do that, then," said Moody, staring at Malfoy with great dislike. Malfoy, whose pale eyes were still watering with pain and humiliation, looked malevolently up at Moody and muttered something in which the words "my father" were distinguishable.

"Oh yeah?" said Moody quietly, limping forward a few steps, the dull clunk of his wooden leg echoing around the hall. "Well, I know your father of old, boy.…You tell him Moody's keeping a close eye on his son…you tell him that from me.…Now, your Head of House'll be Snape, will it?"

"Yes," said Malfoy resentfully.

"Another old friend," growled Moody. "I've been looking forward to a chat with old Snape.… Come on, you…"

And he seized Malfoy's upper arm and marched him off toward the dungeons.

Professor McGonagall stared anxiously after them for a few moments, and then waved her wand at her fallen books, causing them to soar up into the air and back into her arms before turning and leaving. She stopped a moment beside Buffy and whispered a few words.

Buffy shook her head as she marched over to Dawn and Harry. "Ron, Hermione excuse us while I have a talk with my sister and brother."

Ron and Hermione nodded and quickly left. Not wanting to get caught in the middle of whatever was about to happen.

"Dawn Marie Summers! What do you think you were doing?" Buffy asked

Dawn gulped as she knew with the use of her full birth name that Buffy was mad at her. "Uh, uh."

Harry quickly stepped in, in the defense of his sister, "It wasn't Dawn's fault, Buffy. It was Malfoy he was egging on Ron. Dawn just came to Ron's defense is all."

Buffy sighed, "Is that true, Dawn?"

Dawn nods, "Yes."

"As your sister I applaud you for standing up for your friends," Buffy said. "As a Hogwarts professor I can't stand idly by and allow that behavior. Professor McGonagall is letting me discipline you for this as a personal favor to me; I'm going to owe her later. Ten points from Gryffindor and no sparring sessions for a week. You are grounded."

Dawn sighed. "Sorry, Buffy," she said.

"I know," Buffy said. "Now can I have a word with Harry alone for a moment?" Dawn nodded as she headed off. "Between you and me I hated doing that. So, don't tell her I did this, ok. Ten points to Gryffindor, for her standing up for Ron."

Harry smiled and nodded, "Your secret is safe with me. By the way thanks, Buffy."

September 7, 2001

"Right then," Moody said, when the last person had declared themselves present in his Defense Against the Dark Arts class, "I had a letter from Professor Lupin about this class. Seems you've had a pretty thorough grounding in tackling some Dark creatures - you've covered boggarts, Red Caps, hinkypunks, grindylows, Kappas, and werewolves, is that right?"

There was a general murmur of assent.

"When we get to vampires, demons and the Slayer," Moody said, "Professor Potter will join us. Save any questions especially on the Slayer till you see her. Now you're behind - very behind - on dealing with curses. So, I'm here to bring you up to scratch on what wizards can do to each other. I've got one year to teach you how to deal with Dark -"

"What, aren't you staying?" Ron blurted out.

"You'll be Arthur Weasley's son, eh?" Moody said. "Your father got me out of a very tight corner a few days ago… Yeah, I'm staying just the one year. Special favor to Dumbledore… One year, and then back to my quiet retirement."

He gave a harsh laugh, and then clapped his gnarled hands together.

"So - straight into it. Curses. They come in many strengths and forms. Now, according to the Ministry of Magic, I'm supposed to teach you about counter curses and leave it at that. I'm not supposed to show you what illegal Dark curses look like until you're in the sixth year. You're not supposed to be old enough to deal with it till then. But Professor Dumbledore's got a higher opinion of your nerves, he reckons you can cope, and I say, the sooner you know what you're up against, the better. How are you supposed to defend yourself against something you've never seen? A wizard who's about to put an illegal curse on you isn't going to tell you what he's about to do. He's not going to do it nice and polite to your face. You need to be prepared. You need to be alert and watchful. You need to put that away, Miss Brown, when I'm talking."

Lavender jumped and blushed. She had been showing Parvati her completed horoscope under the desk. Apparently Moody's magical eye could see through solid wood, as well as out of the back of his head.

"So…do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by wizarding law?"

Several hands rose tentatively into the air, including Ron's and Hermione's. Moody pointed at Ron, though his magical eye was still fixed on Lavender.

"Er," said Ron tentatively, "my dad told me about one… Is it called the Imperius Curse, or something?"

"Ah, yes," said Moody appreciatively. "Your father would know that one. Gave the Ministry a lot of trouble at one time, the Imperius Curse."

Moody got heavily to his mismatched feet, opened his desk drawer, and took out a glass jar. Three large black spiders were scuttling around inside it. Moody reached into the jar, caught one of the spiders, and held it in the palm of his hand so that they could all see it. He then pointed his wand at it and muttered, " Imperio!"

The spider leapt from Moody's hand on a fine thread of silk and began to swing backward and forward as though on a trapeze. It stretched out its legs rigidly, then did a back flip, breaking the thread and landing on the desk, where it began to cartwheel in circles. Moody jerked his wand, and the spider rose onto two of its hind legs and went into what was unmistakably a tap dance.

Everyone was laughing - everyone except Moody. "Think it's funny, do you?" he growled. "You'd like it, would you, if I did it to you?"

The laughter died away almost instantly.

"Total control," said Moody quietly as the spider balled itself up and began to roll over and over. "I could make it jump out of the window, drown itself, throw itself down one of your throats…"

Ron gave an involuntary shudder.

"Years back; there were a lot of witches and wizards being controlled by the Imperius Curse. 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 VIGILANCE!" Moody barked, and everyone jumped.

Moody picked up the somersaulting spider and threw it back into the jar.

"Anyone else know one? Another illegal curse?"

Hermione's hand flew into the air again and so, to Harry's slight surprise, did Neville's.

"Yes?" said Moody, his magical eye rolling right over to fix on Neville.

"There's one - the Cruciatus Curse," said Neville in a small but distinct voice.

Moody was looking very intently at Neville, this time with both eyes. "Your name's Longbottom?" he said, his magical eye swooping down to check the register again.

Neville nodded nervously, but Moody made no further inquiries. Turning back to the class at large, he reached into the jar for the next spider and placed it upon the desktop, where it remained motionless, apparently too scared to move.

"The Cruciatus Curse," said Moody. "Needs to be a bit bigger for you to get the idea," he said, pointing his wand at the spider. " Engorgio!" The spider swelled larger than a tarantula.

Moody raised his wand again, pointed it at the spider, and muttered, "Crucio!"

At once, the spider's legs bent in upon its body; it rolled over and began to twitch horribly, rocking from side to side. Moody did not remove his wand, and the spider started to shudder and jerk more violently.

It was at that moment that Buffy was walking past in the corridor that she heard Hermione yell, shrilly, "Stop it!"

Buffy looked into the classroom to see what was going on. She saw that Neville looked as white as a sheet. She coughed, "Professor Moody, ENOUGH!"

Moody looked first at Hermione, and then Buffy, and finally at Neville. He nodded releasing the spider from the curse.

Buffy walked over to Neville and escorted him out of the classroom and back to her office. She sat him down on the couch. "You want to talk about it?" she asked as she closed the door.

Neville looked up at Buffy, "M-m-my parents."

"I take it they were killed by what Professor Moody was showing you?" Buffy asked.

"The Cruciatis Curse," Neville said.

"They were tortured?" Buffy asked as Neville nodded. "We'll just sit in here for the remainder of the class till you feel better, ok?"

Neville nodded, "Thank you, Professor."

Buffy smiled, "No problem. I know what it's like to lose a parent. Dawn and I lost our adopted mom early this year. I know the way we lost ours is not what happened to yours. But if you ever want to talk about it, my door is always open for you."

Neville smiled weakly, "Thank you, Professor. I really appreciate that."

Back inside the classroom. "Right…anyone know any others?" Moody asked the class.

Hermione's hand shook slightly as, for the third time; she raised it into the air.

"Yes?" said Moody, looking at her.

"Avada Kedavra," Hermione whispered.

Several people looked uneasily around at her, including Ron.

"Ah," said Moody, another slight smile twisting his lopsided mouth. "Yes, the last and worst. Avada Kedavra.…the Killing Curse."

He put his hand into the glass jar, and almost as though it knew what was coming, the third spider scuttled frantically around the bottom of the jar, trying to evade Moody's fingers, but he trapped it, and placed it upon the desktop. It started to scuttle frantically across the wooden surface.

Moody raised his wand, and Harry felt a sudden thrill of foreboding.

"Avada Kedavra!" Moody roared.

There was a flash of blinding green light and a rushing sound, as though a vast, invisible something was soaring through the air - instantaneously the spider rolled over onto its back, unmarked, but unmistakably dead. Moody swept the dead spider off the desk onto the floor.

"Not nice," he said calmly. "Not pleasant. And there's no counter curse. There's no blocking it. Only two people are now known to have ever survived it, and they are sitting right in front of me."

Everyone turned to look at Dawn and Harry. Harry sighed as he glanced at Dawn. He knew Dumbledore's lie about Dawn having survived the curse would mean she would now be under the scrutiny he had been under since coming to Hogwarts.

"Avada Kedavra's a curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behind it - you could all get your wands out now and point them at me and say the words, and I doubt I'd get so much as a nosebleed. But that doesn't matter. I'm not here to teach you how to do it." Moody said.

"Now, if there's no counter curse, why am I showing you? Because you've got to know. You've got to appreciate what the worst is. You don't want to find yourself in a situation where you're facing it. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he roared, and the whole class jumped again.

"Now…those three curses - Avada Kedavra, Imperius, and Cruciatus - are known as the Unforgivable Curses. The use of any one of them on a fellow human being is enough to earn a life sentence in Azkaban. That's what you're up against. That's what I've got to teach you to fight. You need preparing. You need arming. But most of all, you need to practice constant, never-ceasing vigilance. Get out your quills…copy this down.…"

They spent the rest of the lesson taking notes on each of the Unforgivable Curses.

Buffy and Neville came out of the office when the bell rang, Neville looked better now than he had when Buffy taken him in there.

"Professor Potter," Harry called out as he and Dawn came down the corridor toward her. "May Dawn and I talk to you in private for a moment?"

Buffy nodded and motioned for them to come in to the office, "What is it you need to talk about?" she asked as she closed her door behind them.

"In part about that lesson that Professor Moody was doing," Harry said. "Dumbledore's lie is going to paint a target on Dawn's back."

"You mean because Voldemort killed our mom and dad?" Buffy asked.

"And now people are going to believe that Dawn was there too and that she lived through it like I did," Harry said. "I told you what it was like the first time I found out, how I was treated. I was like a celebrity because of it."

"I know, Harry," Buffy said. "We didn't have any choice. It was that or Dawn goes back to using the Summers name."

"And I didn't want that," Dawn said. "Yes, I love mom and dad. But with what the monks did I'm a Potter now too. I want to acknowledge that."

"Alright, Dawn," Harry said. "Then you should be prepared for the way you are going to be treated from now on. That lesson is just the tip of the iceburg."

"He's right, Dawn," Buffy agreed.