The Raven's Call

The Unforgivables

Tuesday, September 6th 1994

This morning is Defence Against the Dark Arts class with Mad-Eye Moody. "Alastor Moody. Ex-Auror. Ministry malcontent and your new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. I am here because Dumbledore asked me. End of story, goodbye, the end. Any questions?" He asks, writing his name on the blackboard with some chalk. The whole class is silent. "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?" He continues, due to the silence.

"Three, sir." Hermione speaks up. "And they are so named?" Moody continues. "Because they are Unforgivable. The use of any one of them will.." "Will earn you a one -way ticket to Azkaban. Correct." He interrupts Hermione, writing, '3 Unforgivable' on the board. "Now, the Ministry 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 besides the underside of your desk, Mr. Finnigan!" Moody yells, having not even turned away from the chalkboard. "No way. The old codger can see out the back of his head." Seamus mutters. "And hear across classrooms!" Moody yells again, throwing a piece of chalk at him. "So which curse shall we see first? WEASLEY!" He yells, startling Ron. "Yes?" Ron mutters. "Stand" Moody demands, as a scared Ron stands up. "Give us a curse." "Well, my dad did tell me about one. The Imperius Curse." Ron answers. "Oh, yeah, your father would know about that. Gave the Ministry quite a bit of grief a few years ago. Perhaps this will show you why." Moody mentions, before walking over to his desk and taking the lid off a jar with a spider inside. "Hello~ Lovely little beauty." He says as he reaches for the spider, talking to it.

"Engrogio" He speaks, pointing his wand at the spider, making it grow. "Imperio!" He uses the curse on the spider, causing it to shake. He then moves his wand, and the spider follows, allowing Mad-Eye to control the spider. It lands on the front desk with Neville and Dean Thomas. "Don't worry. It's completely harmless." Moody says, as he now moves the spider to crawl over Crabbe's face, causing most of the students to laugh. He now makes it jump over to crawl up Padma Patil's arm. The class roars with laughter. "If she bites. She's lethal!" He chuckles as he makes the spider dance above Ron's head, causing him to panic. Moody looks like he's having a little too much fun, as he starts to laugh manically. Draco lets out a loud laugh, getting Moody's attention. "What are you laughing at?" He questions, causing him to now move the spider to crawl on Draco's face. He starts to panic and turns to Asteria to help him. But she can't stop laughing, either. "Talented, isn't she? What should I have her do next? Jump out the window?" Moody flicks his wand over to a big magnifying glass, the spider following. "Drown herself?" Now moving his wand down to a bucket of water, the spider touches the water, but recoils its leg. He then guides the spider back to his hand, the severity of the curse dawning over all of us. 

"Scores of witches and wizards have claimed that they only did You-Know-Who's bidding under the influence of the Imperius Curse. But here's the rub: How do we sort out the liars? Another, another." More students put up their hand, but he calls on Neville. "Up, up. Come on. Longbottom is it? Up. Professor Sprout tells me you have an aptitude for Herbology." Neville nods. "There's the.. Um. The Cruciatus Curse." Neville stammers out. "Correct, correct. Come, come. Particularly nasty." Moody says, ushering Neville to the front of the room, where he had placed the spider on the desk. "The torture curse. Crucio!" He casts the curse on the spider, and it screams and squirms in pain. After what seems like forever, I can't take it any more. "Stop it!" I erupt, slamming my hand on the table. "Can't you see it's bothering him? Stop it!" Hermione continues my outburst. Moody looks up from the spider, now realising Neville wriggle in pain. Everyone knows Neville's parents were tortured with that curse. Moody picks up the spider and places it on the desk in front of Hermione and me. "Perhaps you can give us the last Unforgivable Curse, Miss Granger?" Hermione shakes her head, not wanting to say a word. "No? How about you?" He now asks me. "The Killing Curse." I say quietly. "Yes! Avada Kedavra!" Moody speaks, as a blinding green light shoots out of his wand, killing the spider instantly. I stare at the lifeless corpse that was once the spider, in shock. For some reason, I hadn't expected him to actually use that spell... Though, why wouldn't he?

"The Killing Curse. Only one person is known to have survived it, and he's sitting in this room" Moody explains, walking right up to Harry Potter, staring right at him. 

***

"Brilliant, isn't he?" Ron admires as we exit the class, walking down the spiral staircase. "Completely demented, of course, and terrifying to be in the same room with, but he's really been there, you know? He's looked evil in the eye." I can hear Hermione's frustration as she interrupts him. "There's a reason those curses are unforgivable. To perform them in a classroom.. I mean, did you see Neville's face?" She asks as we just so happen to walk past Neville, himself, staring out the stained-glass window. "Neville..?" I ask softly, tugging at his robes for a moment, though Moody interrupts. "Son? You all right?" He asks, as Neville turns toward him, lacking emotion, though visibly distressed. Neville nods slowly, looking rather defeated. "Come on. We'll have a cup of tea. I want to show you something." Moody announces, before heading back up the stairs, Neville slowly following behind. 

Poor guy.