Chapter 41) The True Danger
Selected Listening: A Little Less than Sixteen Candles- Fall Out Boy
"It was him!" Anastasia whispered to Fred as she reached where he stood on the staircase. Moody disappeared around the corner ahead of them.
"What?" Fred asked.
"Half mermaid. Moody only has one leg. He's been antagonizing me and Draco all year…it's the only person who makes sense."
"What about Karkaroff?"
"Karkaroff doesn't care about me. He only wants Durmstrang to win," Anastasia said.
"Anastasia, that can't be right. Moody's an auror," Fred argued, but his look held more concern than he allowed in his tone.
"Auror or not, he's been an arse since I've met him," she said forcefully.
Fred looked unsure.
"Come on, let's go tell the others and wait for Harry."
They ran off to the common room, but as soon as Anastasia presented the theory to Hermione and Ron, they struck it down once again.
"Moody might have been rough in the beginning, but look how he's made up for it," Hermione pointed out. "He gave Neville that herbology book."
Anastasia didn't understand how one kind gesture to a student he already traumatized made him a good person.
"And he's the only reason Harry survived the first task," Ron whispered. "Bloke can't be that bad. He's on our side."
"But don't you find it odd?" Anastasia asked. "He attacked me at the beginning of the year, and now he's threatening me about the hex defense test. Besides, he's the only one who makes any sense with the Mermaid's riddle. He's got a fake leg."
Fred and George were now staring at each other nervously, Fred looked like he may be ill.
"What's wrong with you two?" Ron asked.
"So, do you remember that Eau d'Inflame we were testing over winter break?" George asked hesitantly. "The one that suffocated Malfoy?"
"Uh duh," Anastasia said. "It's unfortunately seared into my memory."
Fred squeezed his eyes shut and braced for impact.
"Moody gave me the main ingredient."
"When?!" Anastasia asked.
"He couldn't have known you'd use it on Malfoy!" Hermione protested.
Fred winced and grinned tightly.
"It might have been right after I complained very loudly about Malfoy in the corridor."
"That doesn't mean he was the one who tried to kill Stasia," Ron argued. "Bloke's always hated Malfoy. Probably had it in for him."
"Ron, open your eyes!" Anastasia pushed. "It's been multiple times this year he's done one thing or another that's almost ended my life…directly or indirectly…I have to talk to grandad."
But as Anastasia prepared to grab her invisibility cloak and sneak down to her entrance of the headmaster's suite. Harry returned through the porthole.
Harry told them all that had happened. He and Krum had found Barty Crouch wandering around the edge of the forbidden forest babbling about life and death and work and the fact that Voldemort was gaining strength, and he needed to see Dumbledore.
"If Snape hadn't blocked my way to the headmaster's office—"
"He probably didn't want you to get there," Ron remarked. "Do you think he was the one who hexed Krum?"
"Only if he could turn himself into a bat," Harry replied.
Anastasia stared down at her hands and the pale bronze charm she held between them. She wore a different necklace today, the locket Albus had given her nearly three years prior that held the picture of her mother and her mother's husband. Holly and Francis. The parents she never had. The ones who fought and lost everything. She remembered Snape's eyes when she asked the question. It was the same look in Sirius's eyes in the cave thinking about Azkaban and the same look in Narcissa's at the dinner table. Inkwells of immense pain.
The worst was yet to come, and they knew it.
"Snape didn't do it," Anastasia said sharply as she snapped the locket closed. The boys shared an uncomfortable glance, but she took comfort in Hermione's stare of concern.
"What's with you, Anastasia?" Ron began. "Just because he got you out of one test—"
"I don't care about that," Anastasia snapped. "After he took us to practice, I asked him directly if it was happening. I had my suspicions after Karkaroff crashed our potions class."
"If what was happening?" Hermione asked in a shaking tone.
"If Voldemort is coming back…" Anastasia trailed off. She remembered Draco's vain attempts to comfort her, but she had known since the previous year that it was coming, ever since Pettigrew escaped.
"You asked him that directly?" Ron clarified.
"Snape knew what I meant," she asserted.
"How can you be sure?" Harry asked.
"Because…he was scared."
Fred immediately stopped her from going to the headmaster's suite.
"You heard what Professor Dumbledore said about dark forces at work. You said yourself you think Voldemort's coming back. Last time you ran into Sirius Black! Even with the cloak, what's stopping something from happening to you on the way back to your room?"
Anastasia grimaced. She needed to talk to Albus, but she was certain he wouldn't be pleased with her for sneaking out.
"Wait until tomorrow, okay?" Fred asked. "Please?"
"You can help us blackmail Ludo Bagman…" George argued in a sing-song tone, trying to get his brother out of the worry-wort state.
Anastasia folded the cloak over her arm.
"Fine," she agreed. "But I'm going first thing tomorrow.
The next morning, Anastasia split off from her friends, both groups going to the owlery to send their messages. One from Harry to Sirius, to update him about the Crouch situation, and one from the twins to Bagman, to threaten him into giving up the gold he owed them. Anastasia went through the back entrance of her suite, up the stairs to her bedroom, and back down the staircase into her grandad's office.
But Albus wasn't there. She went back upstairs, checked all of the rooms of the headmaster's suite, and came back down to Fawkes's perch, petting his head as he cooed on his perch. The heat of his feathers crackled under her fingers.
"Missed you too, boy. Where's grandad?" she asked.
Phineas Nigellus Black peered critically down from his portrait.
"The headmaster is out, little girl," he said, using his old nickname for her.
"I'm not little," Anastasia argued. "I'm fifteen next week."
"Little enough," Nigellus spout.
"Where'd he go?" she asked, surprised he would leave in the middle of an emergency.
"To the Ministry. He had to go meet with some important officials on the happenings around Mr. Crouch's disappearance. It's unusual, especially given that Bertha Jorkins went missing too, and hasn't shown up yet."
"Right, but…when will he be back?" she asked.
"Probably not until Thursday."
Anastasia huffed, replenished Fawkes food bowl of cherries and Frankincense, and left out the headmaster's suite the way she came.
The next day, Anastasia walked into arithmancy and started taking her seat next to Hermione when Professor Vector called her.
"Anastasia, Professor Moody said something about you missing a hex deflection test. We're only reviewing for the exam today, so you should go to the Defense classroom now to make it up. He has a free period," said the woman with dark hair.
Anastasia recoiled. She wondered if Draco was being pulled from divination too, or if she was going in alone.
"Professor Vector, I think I need to stay here. I still don't know everything about advanced warding algorithms for the final," she tried.
"I remember you doing very well on that test. You can always come to my office hours with questions, go now," Vector waved her off.
Anastasia sighed and grabbed her things. Hermione looked up at her in worry and mouthed the words "be careful."
Anastasia nodded and set off for her doom.
When Anastasia reached the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Draco was waiting for her outside the door.
"I wasn't going in without you," he said. Anastasia smiled faintly and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Ready to get murdered?" she asked.
"So, you agree with me? Do you think we should run while we have the chance?" he asked. "We could go find—"
But as he was about to suggest looking for the headmaster, the door swung open.
"Oh, there will be no running from this exam, Malfoy," Moody said eerily. "It will count for 60% of your grade for this term."
"Sixty?" Anastasia demanded. "That's more than anyone else's! That's more than the final!"
"Did I stutter, Dumblebrat?" Moody asked. "Get in here."
Anastasia and Draco entered the classroom and stood next to each other in front of Moody's desk.
"Ladies first," he gestured to Anastasia. She had barely drawn her wand when he fired the first hex at her. Moody used entirely nonverbal magic, which meant she had no idea what was coming, only that she had to get out of the way. As he came towards her, she scrambled between the desks, blocking here and there. He threw another out rapid fire, and she ducked to miss it, he fired another. and she blocked it with her wand.
Moody cast another, and it hit.
Anastasia felt her whole body go numb. A look of dread crossed Draco's expression. An imperious curse.
Moody sneered at her as her feet moved one in front of the other, stumbling towards an open window. Anastasia screamed at her brain to stop it, but nothing would.
"Anastasia, no, fight it!" Draco yelled at her. "What's your problem?" he demanded of Moody. "She didn't do anything to you!"
"Doesn't matter if you can block a simple hex if you can't block something that could truly harm you."
Anastasia walked all the way to the wall, placed her hands on the ledge, and climbed with one knee up. She saw the ground below the window. There was no way she could survive that fall.
"Stop!" Draco jolted at Moody's wand, but his body was as frozen as Anastasia's. "Anastasia, you have to fight harder!"
As the words left Draco's lips, Anastasia felt something tug inside her chest, something strong, like a rope or chain. The lifeline.
Anastasia latched onto it and pushed her will against the curse. She strained her legs back down from the windowsill, grabbed the stone wall, and pushed herself down to the floor in a crouched position.
Eventually Moody gave up. The curse lifted.
The protective pull of the lifeline ceased. Anastasia and Draco exchanged a desperate glance. Despite the horrific experience, they had learned something very important, that as frustrating as the lifeline could be, it could be used as a strength.
"Very well, Dumblebrat. At least you've learned one skill in my class." While he said this coolly, there was a lilt to his voice that proved his exhaustion in trying to force the imperious curse on her and his shock that it didn't work.
Anastasia stood, breathing heavily.
"I'm going to tell my father about you. What you're doing isn't right. It's almost like you enjoy torturing us."
The flash of a smirk appeared on Moody's face as his tongue flicked towards her. It reminded Anastasia of someone, something.
"Tell the batty old headmaster all you want, little cretin. These are life skills I'm teaching, and he said he wants you to be prepared."
He turned his twisted gaze on Draco.
"Now what should I do to prepare you?" he asked slyly. "How about a cruciatus? Think you, in all your spoiled rotten blood purity, can block that? Huh, Malfoy?"
Draco stumbled back from Moody, genuine fear crossing his expression.
"You can't possibly—" Anastasia interrupted.
"I'll do what I have to—"
She stepped in front of Draco.
"Use it on him and I swear I'll have my father fire you today," she dared.
"Anastasia—" Draco placed a protective hand on her shoulder. Moody raised his wand. She reached back and grabbed Draco's hand, bracing herself.
"Excuse me, Professor—" a gray shadow floated in from the floor, chains clanking from the dead man's wrists. Anastasia noticed a similar stain of silver blood on his torso, as Helena had. Moody paused. "It's an absolute emergency. Peeves is running amok, He simply won't listen to me this time, you must come help us corral him."
"I'm in the middle of giving an exam, Baron. Someone else can handle it—"
"Professor Dumbledore requested you personally."
Moody looked like he may kill the Baron a second time.
"Surely, you've tested these young one's enough. You've been with them all year," the Baron commented.
"Stay!" Moody insisted and turned to the Baron. "Where is Peeves?"
The Baron led Moody away. Anastasia caught Draco's gaze. They both knew they had dodged a fate worse than death. She thanked Helena silently and said nothing as she pulled gently away, peeked over the desk at Moody's gradebook, and wrote an O in for both of them under the test title.
Then she headed for the door. "We have to go before—"
"Anastasia—" Draco called. She froze. He came up behind her and grabbed her hand as she turned around "Please…please, I'm desperate. I can't stand being with—"
"Break up with her if you can't stand her," she said sharply. He leaned her up against the back wall, his face dangerously close to hers.
"—being without you. I miss you every day. You were right. Being at school is horrible, and all I want to do is go back in time and redo every single day of this year since summer, and spend it with you and show you how sorry I am. Because I can't do this anymore."
Anastasia gently pulled her hand away and slid out from where he had her pinned.
"You're not being fair," she said lamely.
"If that's what it takes, then yes, I refuse to be fair," he insisted, eyes glowering. "You felt that. Didn't you? The lifeline?"
Anastasia's heart panged. She had felt it. She also knew, from Helena, that even if two people shared a lifeline, it didn't prove they loved each other. It also didn't prove she should be with a boy who tried to intimidate her into confessing her love for him while he was still dating another girl.
"I'm going now," she insisted and left Draco seething, tears in his eyes.
When Anastasia arrived back in the common room, fully prepared to tell her friends what had occurred with Moody, she found Ron and Hermione sitting around the fireplace with gaunt expressions.
"What happened?" she asked, her own visage creased from the remnants of the hex exam and Draco's tantrum.
"Harry passed out during Divination and had some sort of seizure," Ron explained, "he woke up on the floor clutching his scar and had to go to the infirmary."
Anastasia drew a sharp breath in.
"How did the test go?" Hermione asked.
"About as expected…except worse…" Anastasia swallowed and told them about Moody using the imperious curse on her again and nearly using the cruciatus on Draco.
"He-he's just messing with you," Ron faltered, "he's never liked Malfoy. Probably trying to scare him more. Make his father think twice about trying something funny."
"Are you hearing me at all?" Anastasia shot. "I don't care how you feel about Draco, but no teacher, no auror, would use an illegal trauma-inducing curse on a student, son of a death eater or not."
"It is weird," Hermione asked. "But you got out of it?"
"Yes," Anastasia confirmed, not wanting to explain further. "We did."
Harry finally returned. He explained going to the headmaster's office instead of the infirmary, and seeing Barty Crouch Jr's trial in the pensive, and discovering Albus's trust in Snape and his belief that Harry's dream and all the rest meant Voldemort's powers were growing stronger.
It only confirmed what Anastasia suspected. Her breaths became shallow as she tried to get more air to her lungs. She sunk down to the floor and placed her head between her knees, slowly rocking back and forth.
It was her fault. If she had only caught the damn rat.