Just Breathe || Ron Weasley

t h r e e

Chapter: Three
Mad-Eye Moody

It was the first defence against the dark arts class of the semester. And it was with none other than Alastor Moody, an auror who is mostly known as Mad-Eye Moody. He had a fake eye that roamed around the room making Hailey slight terrified. Ron had been gushing the entire time about how he was one of the best aurors of all time.

"Right, so Lupin told me about your lessons, and I think you all are far behind. You have to learn what's out there. The unforgivable curses. The dark-"

"The unforgivable curse?" Hermione whispered who was sitting next to Hailey.  Three unforgivable curses. Hailey had read about them in some books. They were illegal to use because of their effects.

Moody went on explaining a bit before asking the students for one of the names of the curses. Many raised hands. Those included Ron, Hailey and Hermione. Hailey looked over at his brother who again, looked clueless as ever. This boy...

"Ah, Mr Weasley."

"I've heard my dad say this. It's called the Imperius curse or something." Ron said as the elder wizard nodded.

"Excellent! Of course, your father will know about that one." He said turning back to his desk where he kept a jar. He took out the spider making Ron physically shudder seeing it.

"Why does it always have to be a spider?"

"Imperio!" Moody said before making the Spider levitate in the sky. It stretched its legs out and started tap-dancing on the table making the students burst into laughter. Hailey looked over at Hermione, who was the only student except her who wasn't laughing.

"You think it's funny, don't you? Would you find it funny if I did this to you?" Moody asked as the classroom became silent. "Control. I can make it drown in water or throw it down one of your throats. But the Imperius curse can be fought, and I will teach you that. Anyone else. Another illegal curse."

Hermione and Hailey's hands shot up as usual. But so did Neville's.

"Yes," Moody said looking at him.

"There's one- Cruciatus curse." The boy said quietly looking down at his feet.

"Your name's Longbottom?" He asked making him gulp before nodding slowly. He still didn't look up from his feet making Hermione concerned. He pointed his wand at the spider looking straight at Neville. "Crucio!"

The spider started rolling and twitching horribly. Small squeaks were coming from it making Hailey look away. If only it was a human she imagined how different the scene would've been right now.

"Stop it!" Hermione yelled. She was looking at Neville whose hands were rolled into a fist. His knuckles turned white and so did his face. He looked like he would pass out any moment.

"Pain," Moody said moving his wand as he walked around the classroom for a bit. "Now the third curse. Can anyone say?" There was a thick silence in the room. No one said a would until Hermione quietly spoke up.

"Avada Kedavra,"

"Yes, the third curse. The worst of them all. The killing curse." He said pointing his wand again at the spider. With any hesitation, he said, "Avada Kedavra!" Greenlight shot from his wand and the spider lay there motionlessly. Not a single scream or scratch.

Hailey closed her eyes and her hands turned into a fist. Her parents died exactly this way. She still has these flashes in her memory, the flash of green light. It's her worst nightmare. She wasn't hit with the curse as far as she heard. Voldemort had gone for Harry first.

"There's no way of blocking it," Moody said putting his wand on the desk. "Only one person is known to survive it. And he's sitting here right in front of me."

She opened her eyes and looked toward her brother. Harry was looking at the board. She could see the veins popping from his neck from clenching his jaws too tightly.

They spent the rest of the lesson taking notes. But Hailey could barely hold her pen. She hands were sweating and shaking. She had these dreams where she could hear her mother's screams, her begging Voldemort to leave them alone.

"Hailey. Are you alright?" Hermione asked as the class was dismissed.

"I'm okay. We have to go and check on Neville." She insisted before getting out of the classroom in a rush. They were walking down the stairs when they saw the boy standing at the corner of the stairs looking outside the window.

"Neville, are you okay?" Hermione asked. He turned towards the two but said nothing and again looked away. Harry and Ron were running down the stairs but stopped seeing those three.

"It's alright sonny." A voice said grabbing their attention. "Come and have a cup of tea with me." Neville still looked shocked. He just gave a short nod. "And Potter, you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm alright," Harry replied.

"The girl," Moody said as Harry turned towards his sister. Her face was paler than usual and her nose was pinkish looking like she would throw up.

"Who? Me. I'm fine. Never been better." She replied with a nod. After Moody left Harry turned towards his sister once again expecting her to say something. Which she did.

"He just added his name to the list of people I don't like." She muttered rolling her eyes. "And that's a pretty long list if you ask me."

"Oh, I do know that sister."

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