Ex-Friends || A Drarry Story

Four: Four

Divination was a silly subject, but Draco was forced to endure it for Theodore's sake. He didn't want to be alone, in case he decided to have himself an episode in front of the class. He was leaning on his hand, nearly falling asleep. Several times during the week, he would scream himself awake, scaring the hell out of Draco and Blaise, claiming in his half-asleep stupor that something terrible was going to happen at the end of this year. But, every morning, he would act as if nothing had happened that night, seemingly wiped from his memory.

Trelawney, a very thin woman with enormous glasses that made her eyes appear far too large for her head, an unusual amount of beaded necklaces and bangles glittering on her body, was gliding around the classroom, and Draco wondered if she somehow knew about Theo's predicament. She seemed to be keeping a close eye on him, constantly looking back to him.

But it didn't matter to Draco too much, what Theo was dreaming of late at night. As long as it wasn't about Draco's kisses with Harry Potter. Then again, Draco was sure that he must know by now. Hopefully not.

Pansy was looking forward to Defense Against the Dark Arts, constantly thinking aloud to herself about what an ex-Auror would teach them, especially one as reactive as Mad-Eye Moody.

"Why are you so interested?" Theo asked as they made their way to class.

"Moody arrested my mother for being a Death Eater," she replied. "I want to see if he remembers my name, or if he's just added my mother's name to his long list of Death Eaters he's put behind bars."

Moody's magical eye was swiveling around in its eye socket, staring directly at Harry Potter, who was sitting in the front row. Moody smiled, at it was possibly one of the oddest thing Draco had seen before; the effect made his heavily scarred face look more twisted and contorted than ever.

"Straight to it, then." Moody paced the length of the classroom, his wooden leg clunking on the floor. "Curses, they come in many strengths and forms. Dumbledore has told me that he reckons you lot have a great deal of nerves, and that you can cope with learning about a few curses early. Do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by wizarding law? I expect a few of my Slytherin students to know."

Draco and Blaise clenched their fists in their laps, and Draco imagined that most, if not all of their fellow Slytherins, were doing the same. It wasn't everyday that a professor would talk about them like that. It was always students, never professors.

A few tentative hands came up from the Gryffindor side, and a few vicious ones from the Slytherins went up. Moody pointed at Ronald Weasley. "Er, well, my dad told me about the Imperius Curse?"

Draco, of course, knew about that curse. Draco hardly needed to listen to Moody explain, even if he was using a spider as his test subject.

Total control. The ability to completely control a person, or even an animal. You could make them dance, do trapeze, jump from a window, drown themself. . . The curse could be fought against, but it was extremely difficult.

"There's the—-the Cruciatus Curse," said Neville Longbottom in a weak, trembling voice.

Pain. Draco was familiar with that one. His father often used it against him.

"Stop it!"

It was Blaise who had shouted, jumping from his seat. His eyes weren't on the spider that Moody was demonstrating with, but were instead on Longbottom, whose hands were clenched upon the desk in front of him, knuckles white, eyes wide and horrified, face pale.

Draco yanked Blaise back into his seat, hissing, "You're looking soft. Quit it."

"Does anyone know the last?"