The next two days passed without great incident, unless you counted Antione melting his sixth cauldron in Potions. Infinite, who seemed to have attained new levels of vindictiveness over the summer, gave Antione detention, and Antione returned from it in a state of nervous collapse, having been made to disembowel a barrel full of Mobani toads. Everyone knew why Infinite was in such a bad mood, he had lost out on the Defence Against the Dart Arts job once again. Although his behaviour was somewhat interesting. He seemed wary to show his animosity to Striker himself unlike all the previous holders of the position. He seemed to be avoiding Striker's gaze whenever they met each other in the corridors. This excited the Shinobi fourth years even more, anyone capable of scaring Infinite was someone worth listening to about Defence. They were so excited in fact that they were lined up at the classroom door before lunch even ended. It was the first time Coral was the last to show up "Where have you been?" "I was at the-" "Library?" Silver finished her sentence. Once the bell went, they all went inside, got their seats and took out their books The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self Protection. Then Striker entered "You can put those books away. You won't need them this lesson". Everyone did so, now looking even more excited, practical Defence lessons were always more fun. Striker did the register and despite not taking his eye off the list it seemed like he was able to see exactly who said "Here" when their names were called out. He put the list down "Right then. I've had a letter from Professor Knuckles about this class. Seems you've had a pretty thorough grounding in tackling Dark creatures. But you're behind, very behind on 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-" "What, aren't you staying?" Razor blurted out.

Striker stared at him for a few moments before surprisingly smiling. It by no means made him look less threatening but it was still a relief "You'll be Rob O'Hedge's boy, eh? Your father got me out of a very tight corner a few days ago. Yeah, I'm staying just the one year. Special favour to Locke. One year, and then back to my quiet retirement". He clapped his hands to get the rest of the classes' attention back "So, curses. They come in many strengths and forms. Now, according to the Ministry of Magic, I'm supposed to teach you 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 Locke'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 Undina, when I'm talking". Undina jumped, she had apparently been showing Lyco her horoscope under the table. A lot of people in the class were beginning to think there was something more to that eye patch Striker wore. Striker continued "Can someone tell me what curses are most punished by Wizarding Law?". Many hands rose up including not surprisingly Coral's. Striker however picked Razor "Yes?" "Uh, my Dad did tell me about one. The Imperious Curse" "Oh, your father would know about that. Caused the Ministry a lot of trouble back in the day".

Striker moved over to a cabinet by the wall. He took a jar from inside which held a Mobani spider. He reached his hand in and took it out. He used his trident to make it hover in the air "You'll all need to see it properly". He held out the hand with the golden claw "Engorgio". The spider suddenly grew to three times its normal size. Everyone gasped, not just out of fear though. They had never seen someone use a secondary to perform a spell. Using two spells at once was something very few wizards can manage. Striker then put the spider down on his desk "Imperio". The spider started to tapdance across the desk and then perform a cartwheel. Everyone laughed, even Striker but his laughing was clearly fake "What should I do now? Make him jump out the window?". The class went silent as the spider leapt from the desk onto the windowsill and waited there "Drown himself?". The spider crawled over to a bucket of water and lowered its head inside. There was no struggle, no attempt to free itself. It was completely continent with what was about to happen. Finally, Striker waved his trident, and the spider was allowed to get out of the water and jump back onto the desk. The class now understood Striker did not see this as a laughing matter "Total control. Imagine if it happened to you. Years back, there were a lot of witches and wizards being controlled by the Imperious Curse".

Everyone knew exactly when he was talking about "And many claimed to be while doing Lord Finitevus' bidding". This earned great respect from the class, there were very few Wizards who said his name "The Imperious 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!" he barked making people jump. He picked up the spider with his claw "Another curse". More hands went up, but Striker didn't seem to notice them. That was until to everyone's surprise Antione raised his hand. Even he looked surprised at his own daring. Striker immediately pointed at him "Yes" "The-The Cruciatus… Curse". Striker stared at him curiously "It's Antione D'Coolette, isn't it?". Antione gave a nervous nod. Striker turned and threw the spider back onto the desk. He raised his claw and "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. No sound came from it, but Silver was sure that if it could have given voice, it would have been screaming. Striker did not stop, and the spider started to shudder and jerk more violently when suddenly "STOP IT! CAN'T YOU SEE IT'S BOTHERING HIM!? STOP IT!". It was Coral but she wasn't watching the spider, she was looking at Antione. Silver froze form the sight, Antione's hands were clenched onto his desk, he was pale, and his eyes were wide with horror. Striker seemed to notice this too as he lowered his claw and the spider relaxed. He looked back at the class "Pain. You don't need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can perform the Cruciatus Curse. Now, who can tell me the last curse?". Silver looked around; most people seemed quite tense over what was going to happen to the spider next. Coral raised her now shaking hand and Striker finally acknowledged her "Yes?" "The Killing Curse". Striker nodded "Yes, the worst one".

Striker turned back to the spider. Silver felt a great thrill of foreboding as Striker raised his claw "Avada Kedavra" a blue light shot out of his claw and hit the spider. It fell on its back, unmarked but unmistakably dead. The class was stunned, clearly the message was given "Not nice. Not pleasant. And there's no counter curse. There's no blocking it. Only one known person has ever survived it and he's sitting in this room". Silver could feel all the eyes on him now, but he didn't care he was now thinking about something else. That was how his parents died. Exactly like that spider. Had they been unblemished and unmarked too? Had they simply seen the flash of light and heard the rush of speeding death, before life was wiped from their bodies? With some effort Silver pulled himself back to reality as Striker spoke "Avada Kedavra is a curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behind it. You could all get your Talismans 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. 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. Now these three spells are known as the Unforgivable Curses. The use of any one of them on a fellow human or Mobian is enough to earn a life sentence in Prison Island. 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 copying down notes. No one spoke until the bell rang and Striker dismissed them. The moment they were out they all erupted in chatter "Did you see it twitch?" "The way it was dead… Just like that". Coral was trying to get past the others "Hurry up" "What?" Razor said confused. Coral stopped and Antione who was standing frozen at one of the windows. Coral gently tapped his shoulder "Antione?". Antione jumped and turned to look at her "Oh, hi. Interesting lesson, wasn't it? I wonder what's for dinner, I'm- I'm starving, aren't you?". Coral looked worried "Antione, are you okay?" "Yeah… I'm-I'm fine. I'm just hungry". Silver and Razor could tell something was wrong. Striker suddenly came down the stairs. Everyone was silent but when Striker spoke it was with a gentler growl than usual "Hey, Sonny, you alright". Antione nervously nodded. Striker seemed to understand more than the trio did "Come on, I'll make you a cup of tea". Antione looked more worried about have tea with Striker than he did before. Striker looked to Silver "You okay?" "Yes" Silver said a little more defiantly than he intended. Striker considered him "You've got to know. It seems harsh, maybe, but you've got to know. No point pretending". Striker turned and headed back to his class. Antione gave the trio a pleading look, but they couldn't help him, he had no choice but to follow Striker.

After dinner Silver and Razor were in the Common Room while Coral went to have her meeting with Locke. Silver had been thinking about nothing else but Striker's lesson "Won't Locke be in trouble with the Ministry if they find out we'd seen those curses?" "Probably not. Locke's got a lot of influence at the Ministry. He probably just convinced them". The two decided to get started on their Divination homework. They went up to their dormitory to collect their stuff where they found Antione. He looked a lot calmer than when they last saw him, but they noticed his eyes were red "Ant, you okay?". Antione finally noticed they were there "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. I'm just reading this book Striker gave me. Apparently Chrysan told him I was very good at Herbology". There was a hint of pride in his voice that Silver rarely heard from him "He thought I'd like this". Silver's respect for Striker was growing by the hour, Antione looked like Striker's words had cheered him up.

An hour into working on their Divination they weren't very far "I haven't got a clue what this means" "I think we go back to our usual tactic". Silver smirked "Make it up?" "Exactly" "Alright. Make sure to put in loads of misery. She loves that". And so, they wrote about how the placement of the planets and stars would give them coughs, loss of treasured possessions, betrayed by someone close "I've put I'll get burned on Monday because we'll be taking care of the plasmas again. She'll like that" "Good one". As their predictions got much more tragic Silver noticed Mighty and Ray on the other side of the emptying Common Room writing something "Don't word it like that. Don't sound like we're accusing him". Mighty then noticed Silver watching, he quickly rolled up the parchment and they both went up to their rooms. After about ten minutes Coral came through the portrait hole. Razor watched her sit down opposite him "You haven't been expelled, have you?" "No. I had a very enlightening conversation with Professor Locke" "Well, when you were doing that, I finished my homework". Coral took his paper and read through it. She frowned and stared at him "Not going to have a good month, are you?" "Well, at least I'm forewarned" "You're going to drown twice?". Razor took his paper back "Oh, yeah. Better change one to get trampled by a crowd. It's a big school, it's bound to happen" "Don't you think it's a bit obvious you've made these up?".

Razor pretended to look offended "How dare you. We've been working like Marmolims". Coral stared at him making him shrug "It's just an expression". Silver rolled his eyes "So what did Locke say?" "Well, I still don't approve of Marmolims being used at Soleanna but for the moment it's seems to be the best of a bad situation". Silver didn't understand "What do you mean?" "Marmolims have been used at Soleanna for centuries and Locke has been tyring to encourage them to accept payment and other rights for decades, but they won't budge because of centuries of brainwashing". Honestly for the first time Silver found it hard to agree with Locke. The Wizarding world having something like brainwashed slaves seemed unfathomable to him. Sure, there was Clutch and Lue but surely, they didn't speak for the whole Wizarding World, did they? He obviously didn't say this to Coral "So, what's he doing instead?" "Well, the Marmolims here are already free so he can't just give them clothes either. He's been trying different things. He's even recently hired a free Marmolim who did want to pay. He's hoping he will encourage the others". Razor raised his hands "So, that's it then". Coral stared at him in disbelief "No, if anything this has just shown the problem is not just this school. This is built into wizarding culture" "Are you serious?" "It's slavery, Razor!". Razor rolled his eyes "Coral, they like it. They like working for wizards!" "Then explain Lue! It's brainwashing, Razor!". Silver stayed out of this. He just couldn't believe it, something as wonderful as the wizarding world having slavery. No, something else had to be up. Thankfully he didn't have to think about it because there was a tap at the window. He turned and saw her; Lily was outside with a letter in her beak. He launched himself forward and opened the window. Lily flew onto the table and dropped the letter "About time?" Silver opened the letter.

Silver,

I'm flying north immediately. This news about you is the latest in a series of strange rumours that have reached me here. If it hurts again, go straight to Locke. They're saying he's got Striker out of retirement, which means he's reading the signs, even if no one else is. I'll be in touch soon. My best to Razor and Coral. Keep your eyes open, Silver.

Elias

There was a moment of silence before Silver suddenly hit himself over the head "He's coming back. I shouldn't' have told him" "What?" "He thinks I'm in trouble! And there's nothing wrong with me! And now's he's risking getting caught". Lily kept pecking Silver's hand wanting some food "I don't have anything! Go to the aviary!" he snapped. Lily looked offended and took off back out of the window "Silver!" Coral said. Silver didn't want to hear it "I'm going to bed. He went up to his dormitory, but he didn't go to sleep. He couldn't he was too worried. Why didn't he just keep his mouth shut. Elias might get caught because Silver's stupid paranoia. He stayed awake even after the others all went to bed. Silver however couldn't help but notice he couldn't hear Antione's usual snoring which meant Silver wasn't the only one lying awake.