Chapter 35
Harry sat in the train compartment, the weeks having passed by quickly in training in Potters Castle, Dover.
Currently he was playing Exploding Snap against Rigel while the rest of them watched curiously- they were the only two left and it had been almost 5 minutes until a pile had blown up.
In the end, it was Harry who ended up winning, with the pile of thrown down cards snapping in Rigel's face.
"What has been going on with you?" asked Ron angrily. "You've been acting weird ever since you went to stay around that git's house!"
"Don't call my brother a git," snapped Thomas standing up as well. "And so what if I stayed around him? He's my brother!"
"But he's a slimy snake," complained Ron.
"Ron's right Thomas," agreed Hermione. "You've been more closed off to us, and why did you stay with your brother? You hate him."
"No I don't," said Thomas. "I mean, I used to, but now he's less of a jerk and he's actually being nice to me."
Hermione stood up and put her hands on her hip, giving Thomas 'the look' only this time it didn't have any effect. "Nice to you? Are you sure we're talking about the same person? Mr-I-hate-Gryffindors-and-authority-Hadrian-Potter?"
"Just give me a break Hermione," sighed Thomas. "Honestly, if you're gonna complain this much I should probably go hang around with Harry. Should I?"
"No," admitted Ron, not wanting to be alone with Hermione.
"Good," said Thomas, sitting back down.
"Welcome, welcome!" said Dumbledore loudly from his throne at the front, directing their attention towards him. "Again we find ourselves at the start of another joyous year at Hogwarts and I must ask for your attention while I give out a few notices. Firstly, Mr Filch has asked me to tell you that Fanged-Frizbees are now amongst the list of items banned on Hogwarts Grounds, and that the full list of said items can be found stapled to the door of his office."
"Secondly, I am sad to inform you that Professor Lupin has decided to take a break and will no longer be your Defense teacher." there was commotion in the students they had gotten at least one competent defense teacher and he is gone
"However," continued Dumbledore happily. "I am pleased to announce that he will be replaced by Professor Moody, who has kindly taken time out of his retirement." At Dumbledore's words, Moody stood up and glanced at all the students and sat down.
"I have one last piece of information to share with you," said Dumbledore once the applause had died down. "I am pleased to tell you that Hogwarts will be hosting the Triwizard Tournament!"
"You're kidding!" shouted one of the Weasley Twins in the middle of the excited chatter. Harry and his friends already knew the tournament was going to be held at Hogwarts, since their parents had told them, but it didn't stop them from being excited about it.
"I'm certainly not," laughed Dumbledore. "Now, for those of you who don't know what the Triwizard tournament is, allow me to explain..." he said. Dumbledore told everyone assembled in the hall about the origins of the tournament and a basic overview of what it would entail before he sent them upstairs to bed.
Eventually time came for the first defence class with the new defence against the dark arts teacher, Mad-eye Moody.
"Now" Moody said from the front of the class "how many unforgivable curses are there?"
"Three" Hermione Granger answered
"And they are called that because?"
"They are unforgivable" Hermione replied "the use of any one of them will..."
"Send you straight to Azkaban!" Moody finished "Now, the ministry says you are too young to learn about these, I say different! You need to know what you're up against, how else can you maintain constant vigilance?! Someone give me the name of an unforgivable curse, Weasley!"
"Uh" Ron stood up, looking nervous in the face of the scarred auror "I...I know about one sir, the uh...imperius curse"
"Ah, yes" Moody nodded appreciatively "you would know that, gave the ministry a lot of trouble that one did" Harry couldn't help but notice that Moody's fake eye glanced at Draco who was just behind him..
Moody made his way to the front, he pulled out a spider and put it under the imperius curse. He made the spider perform various tricks, ranging from jumping upside down to running and flips. Most of the class looked amused.
"You think that's funny do you?!" Mad-eye barked "Would you like it if I did it to you?!" The class went silent at the threat "someone tell me another one, you boy" He pointed at Neville who stood up
"There's the...cruciatus curse" Neville said quietly who had dealt with his confidence issue over the summer with help from Potters and Blacks.
"Yes" Moody nodded "Crucio" Moody pointed the wand at the spider, it began twitching in pain.
"We get it" Harry said from his seat "you can stop now"
"Oh" Moody stopped and walked towards Harry, he stopped right in front of him "perhaps you could tell us about the last unforgivable?"
"Sure" Harry got his wand out and the whole class gasped when he pointed at Moody "Avada Kedavra" Harry said out loud, everyone watched as nothing happened.
"Ha!" Moody laughed, surprising everyone "Fifty points to Slytherin! Well done Potter! Glad to know somebody knows what they're talking about!"
"You're rewarding him?!" Hermione exclaimed "He tried to kill you and you're rewarding him because it didn't work?!"
"No he's not, because it wasn't supposed to work" Thomas said, surprising the class "the spells are based on emotion so nothing would happen as long as Harry didn't actually want to kill Moody. If he did want to kill Moody then Moody would be dead right now"
Many people around the class couldn't believe Thomas had contributed to the lesson, everyone knew him as a lazy slacker. Thomas understood why they were surprised, didn't mean he liked them staring at him like he did a triple somersault. Though, he would have to admit that the shocked look on Hermione's face was brilliant.
"Excellent" Moody barked "fifty points to Gryffindor, well done Potters" Moody went back to teaching the lesson
"How did you know that?!" Hermione hissed to Thomas under her breath
"Know what?"
"That part about the unforgivables!"
"Harry told me"
"He's teaching you dark magic?!" Hermione blurted out louder than she meant to
"Granger!" Moody snapped "Why are you disrupting my class?!"
"Professor, Harry is trying to teach Thomas dark magic!" Hermione accused Harry, pointing her finger at him as if it would result in him getting thrown in some stocks
"I beg your pardon?" A confused Harry asked "I haven't taught my brother any dark magic"
"Yes, you have, he told me! So stop lying!"
"Hermione!" Thomas snapped "Harry never taught me any dark magic!"
"You just said he did!"
"No, I said that Harry was the one who told me about the emotional and intent part of the unforgivable spells! That's the closest we ever got to dark magic! All he actually told me was you need emotion to power them!"
"Really Granger, you know what they say when you assume" Harry said "makes an ass out of you and me, or you, me and my brother in this case."
"Quiet Potter" Moody turned to Granger "that's twenty points from Gryffindor and a detention with Filch for interrupting the class and making accusations" The lesson continued, soon Moody wanted to have everyone practise resisting the imperius curse.
Moody made Ron act like a chicken, he had Hermione do push ups, Draco Malfoy was made to act like a dog. Now it was Thomas's turn
"Imperio" Moody said to Thomas "now, jump up and down"
"No, thank you" Thomas told him and quickly made his way back to his seat as most of the class had dropped jaws
"Well done!" Moody exclaimed "he threw it off, excellent work!" Thomas blushed and shyly looked down. Soon it was Daphne's turn, Daphne got up and went to the front.
"Imperio" Moody pointed his wand at her "slap yourself" This time Thomas noticed Harry's eyes narrowing, it was a rather intimidating look if he was being honest.
Daphne slowly began raising her hand, she tried fighting it off. She put all of her effort into doing so, she did rather good as all she actually did was just touch her face
"Well done Greengrass" Moody complimented her, next was Harry's turn. He stood up and made his way to the front, Daphne was still standing there, a bit embarrassed. "Imperio" Moody said as he cast the spell on Harry.
Harry turned around to face Daphne, he walked right up to her and grabbed her by the waist. He pulled her in closer and planted a big kiss on her cheeks, before he let her go. Daphne's embarrassment faded as a smile overtook her face.
"I didn't even tell you to do that" Moody said
"Well, could you tell me? I was really enjoying that" Harry replied and a few people in the class laughed
"Did the imperious spell even bother you?"
"Nah" Harry shrugged
"Go on then" Moody sighed
"Thanks " Harry grinned gave Daphne another kiss on her cheeks
"I meant go back to your seat!" Moody snapped
"Ooh" Harry broke off "I see why they call you Moody, come on Daph" Harry led her back to her seat, the two sat down with Harry placing an arm around her side. Daphne looked up at him and smiled, silently thanking him.
Review please.
I know, I know its been a month since I posted but i was really busy and was working on 4th year's plots which has been done successfully thanks to my friends who helped me a lot and i will be taking more time to post chapters of 4th year, as future of this story depends on this part and I promise you all will enjoy it.