Rare Illusions ~ Ron Weasley

three

Lorelei had tried again and again to be nice to everyone. She had had enough. Enough of the upturned noses at her kind behaviour, enough of the sympathetic looks from people who knew she was actually attempting to be nice. She wanted to make her parents mean the words they said before she got on the train. She would be who everyone thought she was. Lorelei Elizabeth Grey, the pureblood, the bitch, the "queen-bee". She would be detached.

She was walking to her next class, Defense Against The Dark Arts with the Gryffindors. The blonde girl was a fan of walking quickly, so she was a little peeved by the slow-moving Gryffindor boy in front of her. She looked up to see if she knew who it was, recognizing the red hair.

"Move it, Weasel." She said bitterly, internally wincing. Ron turned around, ready to start arguing with who he assumed was Draco, but his face twisted into a surprised expression when he saw the short blonde girl. She wore an impatient look, unconsciously tapping her foot.

"Lorelei?" Hermione said from next to Ron. The brunette girl looked concerned and surprised.

"I said, move it. You're walking too slow. So either walk faster or move. out. of. my. way." She sent the two, now three considering Harry had turned around, a thin-lipped sarcastic smile that didn't last very long. Ron and Harry were staring down at the girl in shock at her words which were dripping with venom, so Hermione grabbed their sleeves and yanked them to the side of the hallway to let Lorelei pass. As she walked by, the golden trio exchanged confused faces and they heard her murmuring to herself about them being tall so they were completely capable to walk faster, making Ron snort. The three shook off the strange feeling they got from the girl and went after her into the classroom.

"Alastor Moody. Ex-auror, Ministry malcontent, and your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I'm here because Dumbledore asked me, end of story, goodbye, the end. Any questions?" The man wrote his name on the chalkboard and then turned to stand with his hands behind his back facing the class. His magical eye moved around as if it was looking for something, and the class just stared back at the man when he asked for questions. Lorelei sat, once again picking her nail-beds. "When it comes to the Dark Arts, I believe in a practical approach. But first, which of you can tell me how many unforgivable curses there are?"

Hermione Granger, without raising her hand like usual, spoke up. "Three, sir."

"And they are so named?" He asked her whilst writing on his chalkboard again.

"Because they are unforgivable. The use of any one of them would-"

"Would earn you a one-way ticket to Azkaban. Correct! Now, the minister says you're too young to see what these curses do. I say different! You need to know what you're up against! You need to be prepared! You need to find another place to put your chewing gum beside the underside of your desk, Mr. Finnegan!" Now, what surprised everyone about that statement was that the professor was turned around, furiously scribbling away on his chalkboard.

"The ol' codder can see out the back of his head," Seamus mumbled not-so-quietly to his desk partner, resulting in Mad-eye whipping around and throwing a piece of chalk straight at the boy.

"And hear across classrooms!" He paused before continuing, a sinister look on his face. "So, which curse shall we see first? WEASLEY!" He yelled the boy's name even though Ron was sitting right in front of where he stood. "Stand. Give us a curse." The red-haired boy was practically shaking as he stood.

"Well, my dad did tell me about one. The Imperius curse." He said quietly as the creepy professor stared at him closely.

"Ah, yes, your father would know all about that. Gave the ministry quite a bit of grief a few years ago. Perhaps this will show you why." Mad-eye turned away from Ron's desk and walked back towards his own, taking the lid off a glass jar. He picked up whatever was in that jar, whispering to himself. He was still turned away, but everyone in the room could hear what he said. "Engourgio." He turned towards the class slightly, "Imperio!" Then he whipped around and sent the little Amblypygi towards Dean and Neville's desk. Both boys shot back in their chairs, freaked out by the whip spider. The students watched as Mad-eye lifted his wand so that the spider landed on Crabbe's face. "Completely harmless." The man commented and then moved the spider onto one of the Patil twins. Everyone in the class was laughing at this point, except for Ron Weasley. Mad-eye moved the spider to float in the air above the fiery red hair of the aforementioned boy, causing him to whimper in fear. "If she bites, she's lethal!" The amblypygid was now on his forehead, and all the students were laughing at his behavior, omitting Lorelei, who was picking her nailbeds once again.

The spider was flung towards the girl's cousin, the man controlling the creature asking Draco what he was laughing at. The blond boy was now shrieking at his friend to get the spider off his face, and then it was gone. Instead, the creature was in a different blonde's hair. Lorelei felt it land on her head and reached up with one hand to gently hold it in her palm. She didn't enjoy spiders, but she wasn't afraid of them. Mad-eye made the creature dance around in Lorelei's hand and she laughed softly.

"Talented, isn't she? What should I have her do next?" The spider floated away from the girl's hand, "Jump out the window?" His wand pointed at the window and the creature hit a magnifying glass lightly, squeaking. "Drown herself?" The spider was now situated above a bucket filled with water, the class was silent as they watched. He floated the spider back to his hand. "Scores of witches and wizards have claimed that they only did You-Know-Who's bidding under the influence of the Imperious curse, but here's the rub; how do we sort out the liars?" He looked around at all the students. "Another, another. Longbottom is it?" He said as Neville raised his hand as well as a few others. Neville stood up silently. "Professor Sprout tells me you have an aptitude for Herbology."

"T-t-the Cruciatus curse." The brunette boy mumbled.

"Correct! Correct! Come, come." he motioned for Neville, who was clearly uncomfortable, to follow him up to the desk. "The torture curse. Crucio!" The whip spider was curling up in pain, shrieking and squealing, and Neville's face was becoming increasingly paler.

"Stop it! Can't you see it's bothering him? Stop it!" Hermione yelled, snapping Mad-eye out of a trance-like state, and he released the poor creature from the curse.

"Um," Mad-eye cleared his throat, walking himself and the spider to Hermione's desk. "Perhaps you could give us the last unforgivable curse Miss Granger?" He spoke quieter than he had before. She simply shook her head, tears threatening to fall. "Erm, Avada Kadavra!" He hissed the ugly words and a flash of green appeared, killing the whip spider. Lorelei was paying attention now, her eyes also brimming with tears that she wiped away before anyone could see. She had turned slightly whilst wiping her tears, and her eyes fell upon Harry Potter, who had an almost unreadable expression on his face. Lorelei deciphered that it was terror and discomfort, seeing as his parents had died from that curse and he probably had a vague memory of the green light. "The killing curse. Only one person is known to have survived it, and he's sitting in this room." He walked over and stood in front of Harry, peering down at The Boy Who Lived before stepping back and taking a few swallows from his flask.

Needless to say, even the Gryffidor's didn't want to go back to DADA class.

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unedited, but then again, when is it ever edited?