Moody's class continues.

HANNAH VII

Just like everyone else in the classroom, Hannah was staring at Harry, under shock at the revelation. She didn't cry or scream when the spider died, but she definitely recognized Susan's voice among those who did. And now Hannah looked at the small spider whose life was over. An instant before, it had been alive, and now it was gone. Her eyes went from the spider to Harry, who kept looking ahead of him.

Hannah's mind was still distracted as Mad-Eye Moody started to explain things about the Killing Curse. Her mind barely registered the words as images of spiders under control, being tortured, and then being killed went across her mind. She noticed how Neville still looked blank. The Cruciatus Curse really affected him deeply. It had disturbed Hannah, and also fascinated her, she had to admit it, to see this spider contorting, but Neville seemed traumatized.

For the rest of the lesson, as they all took notes on the Unforgivable Curses, Hannah kept looking at Neville from time to time. His hands were still trembling. It was harder to say how Harry fared, his back being turned on her. When the bell finally rang, however, as everyone was putting back his material into their bags, Professor Moody almost roared.

"Potter! Longbottom! You stay here."

So the two boys remained behind. As she left with Ernie, Hannah shot a look at both of them. Harry seemed troubled, but this was nothing in comparison to Neville, who was still somehow shaking.

Once outside the classroom, she immediately talked to Ernie. "Did you see it twitch? The spider? It really seemed to be in great pain."

"It sure was," the boy replied. "He explained what the spell was doing afterwards. It's as if everything in the body, the bones, the muscles, the nerves, the skin, everything was hurting and heated to the maximum. But when he killed it… just like that! Gone, in a moment. I think he's right. I prefer to not be at the wrong end of such a curse."

"The Imperius Curse looked funny, though," Wayne said behind them. "I mean, it was funny to see the spider do all these acrobatics. This curse shouldn't be classified as being unforgivable."

"But the person who cast it can force anybody to do anything. Even kill himself," Sally pointed out.

"Yeah, of course, but he doesn't have to. As long as the curse is only used to make funny things… I mean, should we send to Azkaban a girl who throws a curse to her boyfriend just so he will buy her the necklace she wants?"

He looked, laughing, at Megan, who reddened a little. "I would never do such a thing to you," she protested, though Hannah wasn't entirely convinced it was true due to the tone of her voice.

"Well, I mean, one of our teachers could turn a student into a worm, then bring him back to human form. It's nice, but should we send the teacher to Azkaban for that?"

"Yes!" a few of them replied, though many laughed afterwards.

They discussed the lesson they just had during dinner. Each and every one of the Hufflepuffs who were present in the classroom shared their opinion on each curse. The subjects were often light, such as who they would cast the Imperius Curse on and what they would force the person to do, answers being mostly funny and joking. The conversation turned to a more serious matter when Sally wondered what was worse between the Cruciatus Curse and the Killing Curse, sparking a short argument about what was worse between dying instantly or suffering for potentially hours, but Hannah redirected the discussion to a more lighthearted topic. Sally-Anne had the bad habit to bring conversations on dark pathways.

There was only one person who did not participate to the conversation. Despite attempts to involve her, Hannah failed to get Susan into the discussion. She remained silent for the whole duration of the dinner. Well, almost all dinner. Since she wasn't talking, she finished it earlier than the others, and as she finished dessert and proceeded to stand up, Ernie made a comment.

"In all cases, anyway, I don't think we'll be unlucky enough to face one of these curses someday. I mean, what are the odds that someone ever casts it on us?"

Susan stopped at this moment, and stared at Ernie, who had not noticed it, his back being turned on her. "Some people are not that lucky, Ernie." Ernie turned right away to look at her. She talked rudely, on a severe and high tone that was unusual to her. "We could have received such a curse last summer. So think before blurting stupidities."

And on that, she furiously walked away.

"Did I say something that wrong?" Ernie asked. He didn't seem certain whether or not he actually said something he shouldn't have.

"I'll talk to her," Justin said.

"No, I will," Hannah said. "She's my best friend. I'll take care of it."

Hannah nonetheless took her time to finish her dinner. When she walked back with the others to the common room, they found it quite full in this evening, but Susan was nowhere to be seen. So Hannah went into the girls' dormitory, and she found her friend sitting on her bed, reading something they received in Charms. Hannah's friend looked very focused on what she was doing, something she often did when she was outraged.

"Susan, are you fine?" she asked her.

She didn't answer immediately. "Professor Flitwick told us to read this for next week."

Hannah was lost. How could Ernie's words upset Susan to such a point? "Susan, what's going on? Is there a problem?"

For a long time, she didn't react. But Hannah knew her best friend. Susan could take time to react to something. Finally, after a couple of seconds, Susan sighed furiously and abruptly closed the book she was reading.

"How can you talk about these curses as if they were nothing?"

She was staring at Hannah this time, defiant. Hannah was really taken aback. She wasn't used to seeing Susan like this, confronting her.

"Susan… We just found it interesting. Interesting," she specified.

"You find it interesting to learn how we can torture and kill people?"

"No, of course…"

"Well, that's not the impression you all give." Susan sighed furiously again. "I know it can be useful to show us these, but really? Did he have to perform the Cruciatus Curse right in front of Neville? Or the Killing Curse right before Harry? He could have done it more gently, at least. He may have been a great Auror, but as a teacher… We should have kept Professor Lupin."

The mention of their former teacher created a knot of guilt into Hannah's stomach. "Susan, I swear, it was an accident. I never wanted…"

"I know." Her best friend snapped, cutting her short. "But really? Showing them to us, like this? Without warning? Placing the spider he killed right in front of Harry, on his desk? He almost died because of that curse when he was a baby. And Neville? You saw him?"

"Yes," Hannah answered, growing a little afraid of her best friend who looked thoroughly furious. "It was strange. I mean, Neville has always been afraid of many things, but this time… It really seemed worse than anything he ever saw before."

"What were you expecting, with what happened to his parents?"

"His parents?" All of a sudden, Hannah grew very curious. "What happened to his parents?"

All of a sudden, Susan's expression changed. From one of fury, she looked now the same as when she let it escape that Professor Lupin was a werewolf. It was her expression when she said something she shouldn't have.

"Susan? What happened to Neville's parents?"

Her curiosity got the better of her. She really wanted to know now. Neville never spoke about his parents. Hannah often heard him talking about his grandmother and how afraid he was of her, but he never even mentioned his parents. She heard more than several rumors over the years about them, but never anything conclusive, and whenever she asked Neville about his parents, he refused to talk about them, finding an excuse to discuss something else when he didn't only walk away.

"Hannah, this time, you swear on your mother's head that you're not going to repeat this to anybody," Susan warned.

Hannah almost felt insulted by this. But thinking about what happened to Professor Lupin, she conceded. "I promise." She meant it.

"Okay. So, you've never heard of Frank and Alice Longbottom?"

"No." It was the first time Hannah heard these names. "They are Neville's parents?"

"Yes, they are."

Susan then stood away from her bed and went to take something in her personal stuff. She took out a photo album that Hannah sometimes saw her look into. She opened it and showed one of the pages to Hannah.

Hannah recognized the photo right away. Susan showed it to her two years ago, in their second year, while the Basilisk was attacking all Muggle-born students in Hogwarts. This photo showed the burial of James Potter, Harry's father. This photo accompanied an article of the Daily Prophet on the burial. She recognized Susan's parents, who she knew well, holding a little girl in their arms who Hannah knew was Susan at the age of two. She also recognized Lily Evans Potter, Harry's mother, who she saw quite a few times as well, and who was holding a small boy in her arms with a scar on his forehead, the same Harry still had today.

"Here they are."

Susan pointed two individuals, and Hannah immediately acknowledged them as Neville's parents. She never saw them before, but the similarities were striking. They both had a round face and dark hair.

"They were at this burial too?" Hannah asked.

"Yes. Like my uncle Edgar and Harry's parents, Neville's parents were part of the secret organization that Dumbledore led and who fought against You-Know-Who. They were also Aurors, like Alastor Moody. They were his colleagues back then."

Hannah had no idea. So Neville was the son of two Aurors. She was impressed. She never would have guessed, judging by Neville's clumsiness and limited abilities in most subjects except Herbology, where he almost competed with Hermione.

"Why did Neville never tell me?" Hannah asked aloud. "Why doesn't he want to talk about his parents?" If both her parents were Aurors, she would have been enthusiastic to tell everyone.

"Probably because of what happened not long after this photo was taken."

"What happened?"

Susan's face was dark, a sour expression settling.

"No." Hannah couldn't believe it. "They're dead?"

Susan shook her head. "Worse. They are at St Mungo's."

Hannah didn't understand. "St Mungo's? But… why? What are they doing there? They're sick?"

"Yes, they are." Susan inhaled deeply and went to sit on her bed, while Hannah remained standing, the photo album in her hands. "When You-Know-Who was defeated, Hannah, the Ministry chased down his supporters. Alastor Moody and Neville's parents were among the Aurors who participated to these efforts. Moody was the most efficient of all. Many Death Eaters were arrested, judged and sentenced to life in Azkaban as a sentence, while others were exonerated. But there are some who evaded the authorities for some time. There are some among those who went into hiding, fled to other countries. But others thought that You-Know-Who was still alive, or that they could somehow bring him back. I don't know why they thought so, but four of them seemed to think that Neville's parents held information that could help to bring back their master. Perhaps because they were close to Dumbledore and part of the organization that fought You-Know-Who, like Harry's parents. I don't know. What I know is that, they captured Neville's father and mother, sequestered them in their home, and used the Cruciatus Curse on them. For days."

Hannah was speechless, something which rarely happened to her. She tried to utter words a few times, without success, before she finally managed to croak something out.

"So… that's why Neville was like this in the classroom? That's why he was so affected when Professor Moody showed the curse?"

"Yes. He lives with his grandmother because his parents went insane. They still are. They were tortured for days, Hannah. Days! From what I heard, they don't even remember who they are. And they probably don't even know that Neville is their son. In some ways, it's even worse than death."

They remained silent for a long time. Hannah couldn't say anything. She was used to hearing stories and rumours about other people, and repeating them to everybody around her, but this… This was just horrible. Too horrible to talk about.

"I had no idea." This was all Hannah could whisper.

"Of course not. Ernie doesn't know either. Neither does Justin, or Sally, or Wayne, or Megan, nor everybody else. These curses are not as interesting as you might think when your loved ones were destroyed by them. It's not for nothing that they are Unforgivable."

Hannah felt guilty all of a sudden for the excitement she felt after the lesson, and for all the light discussions they had on those curses. She thought of Neville, so pale during the lesson, so distressed. She should have known better.

"I'm sorry," Hannah muttered.

"You should," Susan said, her voice low and unusually hard. "There are people who lost their family, their friends, people they care about because of these curses, Hannah. For us, that's not an interesting lesson of magic. This is a reminder of how our families were killed, or worse. And I warn you, don't ever talk about this to Neville or anybody else. It's not the kind of things we discuss with people," her best friend added.

"No, of course."

Hannah never intended to talk about this with anybody anyway. She couldn't see herself depicting such a tragedy. It would have been like talking with Harry about his father's death. You couldn't do something like this. You just couldn't.

She looked at Susan, wanting to apologize. Though she wasn't sure if it was to Susan she should apologize. It should be to Neville, and possibly Harry. But how to apologize to them without revealing the reasons behind those apologies? Though, Hannah suddenly realized how Susan spoke of this. How she said some people lost their family to these curses.

"Susan…" Hannah knew she walked a thin line there, so she wanted to be very careful. "Your uncle's family… Were they…?"

She couldn't finish. She didn't dare to. But Susan answered all the same, and she did so while staring straight into Hannah's eyes. "How do you think they were all murdered?"

That was all the answer Hannah needed. Of course, You-Know-Who and his supporters must have used the Killing Curse. Perhaps some of them were even tortured. Hannah had fallen on her own bed, and was sitting not far away from Susan, looking worryingly at her best friend who now stared away from her. She didn't know for how long they remained there before Hannah finally uttered something.

"I'm sorry. I am."

Susan then stood up and recovered her photo album. "I'm going to the library. I need some time alone."

Hannah wanted to follow her as she walked through the doorway, but she felt she wouldn't help at all by doing so, not tonight. She still left the dormitory after some time and found most of her friends gathered together in a corner of the common room, talking like before. When she came down, Justin rushed on her.

"Hey, what's going on with Susan? She came out of the dormitory and went outside without talking to anybody. She ignored me when I called her."

"She needs some time alone," Hannah said.

"Perhaps… we should go see her and…"

"No, Justin. She needs time alone." She tried to convey the best she could with her eyes and face that this really wasn't time to chase after Susan. They could try to comfort her tomorrow.

"I'm worried. Since the Quidditch World Cup… I mean, I tried writing to her, but her answers… She really doesn't seem well."

"I know." Hannah had been worried about her best friend as well ever since that time. Susan was never the most outgoing person, but she almost never left her parents' apartments after the events of August 18, and even when Hannah went to visit her, she was even less talkative than usual, and obviously not a in a very good mood. She was just as worried for her as Justin was.

"I wish… there was something I could do."

She felt a pang of sympathy and tenderness for the boy in front of her. "It's going to be fine, Justin. Susan is going through a hard time. We all had one after the Quidditch World Cup, and today's lesson… Well, let's just say she's having a hard time. She will be better tomorrow, you'll see. Don't worry too much."

He nodded.

Indeed, the next morning, Susan looked a little better. Hannah had instructed the others, although without giving them too many details, that they were not to discuss yesterday's lesson, and so they all avoided the subject. As a result, Susan participated to the discussion, and Justin especially looked after her and talked to her. When they stood up to go to their first lesson of the day, Justin grabbed her bag and gave it to her, which Susan thanked him for. Hannah rolled her eyes internally. Justin was really not subtle about this. Then, smiling to herself, Hannah thought that maybe, this famous board of couples Parvati developed over a year ago during the summer between their second and third year in Hogwarts, wasn't as inaccurate as she might have first assumed. After all, Susan and Justin did end up together on that board, and last time Hannah heard of it, Parvati still kept them together on it.

On their way to their first lesson, Hannah spotted Neville, who also looked better than yesterday. She was tempted to go and comfort him, but thought better. She couldn't talk to him about his parents, after all. It would only make things worse. Hannah instead gave Susan news that lightened her mood.

"Professor Flitwick talked to me yesterday. He says that the first rehearsal of the choir will be Saturday morning."

And like Hannah expected, this brought a smile to Susan's face.

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