𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐌𝐄𝐃 ; d.malfoy

20

Defense against the dark arts was a highly anticipated class. The older Slytherins were telling all of us fourth years on how amazing Moody was as a teacher.

'He just knows his stuff, y'know? He's really seen evil in the eye,' was what one of my brother's friends had told me and frankly, it only made me dread the class than want to attend it.

But alas, it was Thursday meaning we were going to have DADA with the Gryffindors.

'Look at them, flocking up to him like flies,' Draco commented on the fourth year Gryffindor students, who were all huddled near the entrance of his class.

For once, I agreed with Draco, 'tell me about it, if they knew half the things he had done then...' I mumbled.

Suddenly, Draco's arms wrapped around my shoulders as he pulled me close to him—his touch sending unusual butterflies swarming through my stomach, making me feel at ease.

'I'm sitting with 'Esque, by the way,' he said, looking at Quinn. 'I'll protect her from whatever danger Moody imposes upon us.'

Quinn scoffed, 'you can't even protect the snitch from Potter's view, how are you going to protect a living, breathing woman?'

All five of us burst into laughter from Quinn's comment that made him very pink. And, for some reason, I felt really bad for him since he first got turned into a ferret by Moody and now he was being insulted in-front of his class.

'Don't worry, I'll sit beside you and protect you from being transfigured into a ferret again,' I joked as we all started laughing again.

Suddenly, the door to his classroom opened, beckoning us to enter. Draco tugged on my wrist and made us sit near the window on the left side of the class. Daph was sitting next to us with Blaise by her side and Quinn was unfortunately stuck with Parkinson, who was very grateful for it.

'Right then,' he said, his words making me jump and hold onto my breath due to fear. 'I've had a letter from Professor Lupin about this class. Seems you've had a pretty thorough grounding in tackling Dark creatures—you've covered boggarts, Red Caps, hinkypunks, grindylows, Kappas, and werewolves, is that right?'
There was a general murmur of assent but I didn't say anything.

'But you're behind—very behind—on dealing with curses,' said Moody. 'So I'm here to bring you up to scratch on what wizards can do to each other. I've got one year to teach you how to deal with Dark—'

'What, aren't you staying?' Ron blurted out. Moody turned to stare at him and then agreed that he was only here due to Dumbledore's request and was staying for merely a year.

'So—straight into it. Curses. They come in many strengths and forms. Now, according to the Ministry of Magic, I'm supposed to teach you counter-curses and leave it at that. I'm not supposed to show you what illegal Dark curses look like until you're in the sixth year. You're not supposed to be old enough to deal with it till then.But Professor Dumbledore's got a higher opinion of your nerves, he reckons you can cope, and I say, the sooner you know what you're up against, the better.

How are you supposed to defend yourself against something you've never seen? A wizard who's about to put an illegal curse on you isn't going to tell you what he's about to do. He's not going to do it nice and polite to your face. You need to be prepared. You need to be alert and watchful. You need to put that away, Miss Brown, when I'm talking.'

Lavender jumped and blushed. She had been showing Parvati her completed horoscope under the desk. Apparently Moody's magical eye could see through solid wood, as well as out of the back of his head which horrified me.

Moody then called out to Weasley and asked him to name the first curse: Imperio. He looked rather uncomfortable as he said it—fear was all over his features.