Chapter 17
Harry's wand was returned to him and Winky was freed by Crouch. The poor house-elf wailed and begged to not be given clothes but to no avail. Hermione looked upset at the scene and tried to defend Winky but Crouch wouldn't hear any of it.
Mr Weasley stepped in once they were clear of all suspicion and ordered the four teens to follow him back to the tents. There they met up with the rest of the Weasley siblings, Percy and Bill being injured. Angela went for her bag in which she had potions stocked for that purpose, she grabbed two phials and handed one to each injured brother.
"Take this, it will stop the bleeding."
"Thank you Angela." replied Bill, downing the potion, Percy mimicking him soon after.
While Angela helped Bill and Percy, Mr Weasley was explaining to Harry about the Dark Mark and why people were so frightened by it.
"They sure ran away quickly when they saw the mark. I don't know if they were more scared by the ministry people or by what Moldyshort would do to them if he caught them acting independently." The girl pointed out with a shake of her head.
"They are trying to keep out of Azkaban."
"Did you guys catch any of them?"
"They all managed to escape as far as I'm aware." replied Mr Weasley dejectedly.
Mr Weasley then sent them to sleep since it was already past 3am. Angela, like Harry, had all her nerves in effervescence and kept turning in her bed, her mind still hyper aware after the excitement of the evening. The sound of Charlie's snoring lulled them to sleep after quite some time spent lying with their eyes open.
They had barely slept a few hours when Mr Weasley woke them up and told them to start packing. Angela put on a pair of pale blue jeans with a black tank top with "Pan-hex-ual witch" on it. She made sure she had all her belongings in her bag and then went to help the adults pack up with magic. There was no time to do it the muggle way this time around.
On the way to the portkey, the old muggle owning the camping site wished them a Merry Christmas and Mr Weasley reassured them that he was just disorientated temporarily due to the repeated obliviation but that he would be fine after a while. Angela frowned a little at the lack of care for the muggle family that just went through something traumatizing. Not remembering trauma didn't mean it didn't have any lasting consequences and she was well placed to know about it.
They arrived at the location of the portkey before the sun rose, it was an old tire this time around. Angela managed to land on her feet but she wasn't stable enough so she fell on her ass next to a sprawled Harry. Both teens looked at each other before chuckling. Angela stood up and extended her hands to help her brother up.
They walked back to the Burrow and when they arrived in sight of the house they heard a big cry of relief.
"Thank god you are alright! I was so worried!" exclaimed Mrs Weasley, a copy of the Daily Prophet in her hand.
She threw herself at Mr Weasley's neck before turning her attention to Fred and George, apologizing for getting mad at them over their OWL results. Bill caught the fallen newspaper and handed it to Mr Weasley as they all set up around the kitchen table for breakfast.
"It seems one of the Death Eaters couldn't get away, they found one of them dead in a clearing in the woods. No traces of wounds, probably an Avada." commented Mr Weasley, making Angela and Harry stiffen.
"Do they have any idea who did it?" She asked calmly.
"No, there were too many people present at the time, it would take forever to find the culprit."
Harry and Angela relaxed slightly at that affirmation.
Later as they went through what Mrs Weasley had gotten them from Diagon Alley, Angela handed a package to Harry and one to Ron.
"What's that Eli?"
"Dress robes, we'll need it this year. I thought you'd prefer to have a nice one rather than something with frills or ugly colors."
Ron opened his to find dark blue robes in fine silk with gold details.
"You are crazy Angela, I can't accept this!" He protested.
"Hush, consider it a late birthday gift or an early Christmas one if you want."
"Fine but don't do something like that again. And you better not get me anything else for Christmas this year!"
Angela chuckled. "Don't worry it's a one time thing I promise."
"Why do we even need dress robes Eli?"
She sighed. "I don't know how much I can tell you… there will be something big at school this year and it will include a ball, you'll know about it during the opening feast don't worry!"
"A ball? With, like, dancing?"
"Yes with dancing."
"Can I skip it? I don't know how to dance."
"You can't, but don't worry I'll teach you how to dance." Angela smiled.
"Wait, you know how to dance? Since when?"
She put her hands on her hips and glared. "I asked cousin Severus to teach me when you were hanging with Sirius."
"You danced with the greasy git?" exclaimed Ron, surprised.
Angela's wand ended up pointed between his eyes. "Insult him again and you'll regret it Ronald."
"Sorry, sorry!" He held out his hand in a placating gesture and she lowered her wand with a pointed nod.
"Speaking of the ball, Ry'. Since we can't avoid it, want to be my partner?"
"You want to go with me even though you know I can't dance?"
"As I said, I'll teach you. I'd rather go with you as siblings than be bothered to go with someone else." She explained.
"Fine, that's a deal, we'll go together." He agreed.
"Good, cuz your dress robes match my dress, it would have been awkward." Angela beamed, making Harry shake his head with a fond chuckle. "Now I have to go give Ginny her dress, Hermione already got hers."
With that she left the room, whistling with a self satisfied look on her face.
oOoOo
Angela spent the journey to Hogwarts half with Harry and half with Draco in the compartment right besides him. She prevented the blond from going to taunt her brother, arguing that it was not worth his time. Draco, liking having his ego stroked, fell for it easily, not even realizing that she was manipulating him.
When they left the train she casted impervius on her clothes and on Draco's, protecting them from the pouring rain and from Peeve's water bomb when they entered the castle.
They sat at the slytherin table and her friend whispered in her ear. "Where is the new DADA teacher? You're a seer, you must know who it is, don't you Ange?"
"It's Mad-Eye, he should arrive during Dumbledore's speech." she replied quietly.
"Mad-Eye, the auror that got attacked this morning?"
"Himself."
"I heard he is crazy and paranoid, I wonder how good he will be."
"You won't like him and he won't like you, that's all I can tell you, Dray. But he'll be a good teacher, not as good as Lupin but better than Lockhart and Quirrell."
The blond nodded and got quiet observing and clapping for the sorting of the new first years. They chatted calmly during the feast, exchanging about their summer vacation. Once they were finished, Dumbledore started his usual start of term speech. He was announcing that the Quidditch cup was canceled when Moody entered the Great Hall under the sound of thunder.
Dumbledore introduced him as the new DADA professor before resuming his speech, telling them all about the TriWizard tournament. One could hear the Weasley twin complain when Dumbledore announced the age limit for the tournament.
The next day went smoothly for Angela until she left arithmancy with Hermione. She met up with Harry and Ron but Draco arrived with a copy of the Daily Prophet that he read out loud, mocking the fact that Rita kept misnaming and bad mouthing Arthur Weasley.
"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's face was becoming red as he shook in fury while Angela pursed her lips.
"Fuck off Malfoy! Come on Ron…" said Harry, trying to diffuse the situation.
"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?"
"Actually so was I, Dray, quit it now." chimed in Angela. "You'll regret it if you don't."
"You know your mother, Malfoy?" said Harry , both he and Hermione had grabbed the back of Ron's robes to stop him launching himself at Malfoy. "'That expression she's got, like she's got dung under her nose? Has she always looked like that, or was it just because you were with her?"
Draco's usually pale cheeks tinged with pink in embarrassment. "Don't you dare insult my mother, Potter."
"Keep your fat mouth shut, then," said Harry, turning away.
"Oh no, you don't laddie!" came Moody's voice and in the blink of an eye he had Draco turned into a ferret for trying to attack Harry from behind.
"Dray! What did I tell you… Morte go fetch Severus!" The bird on her shoulder cawed and flew away as Angela caught Draco before Mad Eye could make him bounce.
Everyone was looking at them and some were laughing but Angela was seething. She drew her wand and pointed it at Mad Eye.
"This is not how you discipline a student, professor!"
"Let him go, girl, he deserved it for trying to attack someone from behind."
"Dray is an annoying prat but no student deserves to be humiliated like this!" she yelled, catching the attention of McGonagall who was walking nearby.
"Do you mean to tell me this is a student?"
"Yes Ma'am, it's Draco Malfoy." nodded Angela, still in a defensive position, Draco cradled against her chest.
"Put him on the ground and lower your wand, I will fix this." ordered the transfiguration professor. Angela obeyed and Draco was given back his normal form.
"We never use transfiguration on a student! 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!" argued McGonagall, furious.
"I'll do that, then," said Moody, staring at Malfoy with great dislike.
Draco's gray eyes were wet with tears from 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 will 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 to march him off towards the dungeons when a cold drawl stopped him.
"This will be unnecessary, Alastor. I'm here."
"Cousin Severus!" exclaimed Angela as Moody released Draco.
"Angela, what happened here?"
The girl sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "As usual, Dray couldn't help but taunt Ron and Ry', insulting Ron's family. Ry' tried to walk away and Dray tried to hex him from behind. Professor Moody stopped him by turning him into a ferret and he was about to make him bounce when I caught him to protect him. Professor McGonagall came in and undid the transformation."
Severus looked at his colleagues to confirm the story and both nodded. He didn't let anything show on his face as he caught Draco by the arm. "Come here, I will deal with you in my office."
They all watched the professors leave while Ron was sighing dreamily about Malfoy as a ferret. Angela shot him a stinging hex with a mild glare.
"This was bad, not funny at all Ron. Even if he was being a prat, imagine you were the one transformed like that."
Ron gulped at that and chose wisely not to say anything as Angela followed them to the Gryffindor table.
oOoOo
It was time for their first lesson with Moody. The professor told them to put their books back in their bag.
"I received a letter from professor Lupin, you seem to have had good coverage when it comes to dark creatures. But you are far behind against curses. I have one year to show you how to handle curses…" Before the professor could finish his sentence, Ron cut him.
"What, you won't be there next year?"
Moody's magical eye spun and landed on Ron before Moody smiled.
"You are Arthur Weasley's son, aren't you? Your father helped me out of a tough spot a few days ago. Yes, I'll stay one year and then I'll go back to the quietude of retirement." The professor laughed and joined his hands. "Let's start. Curses. They can take different forms and their power varies case by case. If we follow the Ministry's recommendations, my mission is to teach you a few defensive spells, nothing more. I'm not supposed to show you how curses work before your sixth year. They think you are too young to hear about the details. But professor Dumbledore has your character in high esteem and believes you are capable of learning more."
He kept going until he reprimanded Lavender who was showing a horoscope to Parvati under her desk. The gryffindor blushed and put it away.
"Who can tell me what are the curses that the laws punish with the most severity?"
Several hands raised shyly, including Ron's and Hermione's. Moody pointed at Ron.
"Err.. my father told me about that spell… it's called Imperius or something like that…" The redhead didn't seem too sure of himself.
"Ah, yes. Of course your father knows this one. At some point it gave a lot of trouble to the Ministry people, the Imperius."
The professor stood up and went to open his desk's drawer and take from it a glass jar filled by three big spiders. Angela's hair became brown while Ron's face turned white. Moody took one of the spiders in his hand in a way so that everyone could see it. He pointed his wand to it and whispered "Imperio."
The spider started tap dancing in his hand and almost everyone laughed except for Angela who frowned, a hand coming to pet Morte on her shoulder.
"You find that funny, uh?" growled Moody. "You'd like it if I did the same thing to you?"
No one was laughing anymore.
"Total control. I could order it to jump through the window, drown itself or jump down one of your throats." Angela noticed Ron paling even more and shivering. "A few years ago, a number of witches and wizards were under the Imperius curse. The Ministry had trouble determining who acted against their will and who didn't. The Imperius can be fought and I'll teach you how but that requires true strength of character and not everyone is capable of it. You better avoid being subjected to it if you can, constant vigilance!"
The professor put away the spider before asking if anyone else knew another forbidden curse. Hermione had her hand raised but Moody picked Neville instead.
"The Cruciatus curse." answered the timid boy with a small voice.
"You are Longbottom?" Neville nodded and Moody didn't comment any further, picking another spider in his jar and made it bigger with an engorgio to demonstrate.
"Crucio." One could see the spider thrashing around, spasming before Hermione's voice cut through.
"Enough!"
Moody gave back its normal size to the spider after stopping the torture.
"Pain. You don't need any weapon to hurt someone when you know the Cruciatus. This one too was used a lot at a certain time. Another one?"
To everyone's surprise the answer came from Morte who cawed on Angela's shoulder. "Avada Kedavra. Avada."
"Smart bird you got there lassie. Yes, the last and the worst, Avada Kedavra, the death curse."
He took the third spider and put it on his desk before casting the spell. A jet of green light left his wand and hit the poor spider who died instantly making a few girls cry out.
"Not funny at all. There is no counter curse, no way to protect yourself from it. Only one person ever survived it and he's sitting in this class."
Harry blushed when put under the spot, he fixed the blackboard as if it was the most fascinating things while Moody explained that Avada required a lot of power and that even if they all pointed their wand at him and tried to use it, they'd be lucky to give him a nosebleed. Angela avoided Harry's look pointedly at that comment because both knew she could cast it and now was not the time to discuss it.
"Those three curses are better known as the Unforgivables since 1717, using one of them is a life sentence to Azkaban if you get caught." Mad Eye explained to them.
Soon after the class ended and Angela put a reassuring hand on Neville's shoulder since the boy seemed shaken ever since the demonstration of the Cruciatus. The boy gave her a shaky nod, making her smile gently.
"I'm here if you need, Neville."
"T-thank you, Angela." he replied timidly.
Angela ran after Harry, Ron and Hermione and grabbed Harry's hand as soon as she could, beaming at him.
"What a lesson!" commented Ron. "He really knows his stuff."
"I don't know if demonstrating the curses instead of just telling us what it does was a good idea but yeah, he knows what he's talking about." answered the slytherin with a slight shake of her head.
"Did you see poor Neville? He was terrified." pointed out Hermione.
"I told him I was here if he needed someone."
"Oh Angie, that's kind of you!" exclaimed the bushy haired girl.
"Calm Hermy, I haven't done something that special." She chuckled.