Whispers Of Hogwarts

𝐃𝐄𝐅𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐊 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒

"Good morning, Charlize." Hermione smiled at me.
"Good morning, Hermione."

We were at the Great Hall having breakfast. Honestly, I was very excited for my first magical lesson which was only minutes away.

"Charlize, how was your parents' reaction when you first received your letter? You're muggle-born, aren't you?" Ron asked.

"Um, actually no. I'm half-blood. And it's only my mother and sister at home. My father was a muggle. He passed away a long time ago." I rectified his mistake.

"Oh, I'm sorry Charlize, I didn't know."
"It's fine." I smiled.
"Well then, where's your sister? We'd love to meet her."
"Well actually, she didn't get accepted."
"Your sister's a squib?"

Hermione smacked him in the upper arm.

"Ron!"
"I'm sorry again. I shouldn't have said that."

"It's okay, Ron. I don't know if it's too common among half-blood families."

"Well, squibs are very rare. They're kind of... the opposite of muggles. You could say they're... not very welcome to the family they're born into." Ron shared his knowledge.

"Well, my mother and I love her the way she is."
"They're nice people. I met them at the station." Harry remarked.
"I'm looking forward to meeting them," Hermione added and Ron agreed.

Ron wanted to ask another question, it seemed but Harry interrupted.
"Come on, we should go. We've got Defence Against the Dark Arts."

°•✮•°

Alastor Moody, or rather, Mad-Eye Moody was our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher this year. Hermione told me about the history of the other Professors in this profession in the previous years and how they ended up.

I liked Remus Lupin very much. Much to our dismay, he had to resign for being a werewolf. I would've loved to have him as my Professor.
New teachers every year, especially only in this subject. This branch of magic was indeed cursed. Thanks to Tom Riddle.

"Welcome to the classroom, Charlize. I imagine it must fascinating for you to study magic for the first time. Just like how it was for me." Harry gestured to the room which was filled with students of all houses. Not the first time if I included the lesson on the Cure for Boils potion earlier this morning, but it's true. I've always wondered how my first real Hogwarts adventure would turn out once I had started attending it if it was real (which is now real).

Once we had all seated ourselves, I took a glance at the blonde boy sitting across me. To my surprise, he was already looking at me but quickly turned away.

"Alastor Moody."

Oh well, I had not noticed him already waiting for us.

"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?"

Now that I was seeing him in person, he seemed a bit scary. The fake eye seemed like it was going to pop out any moment.

"When it comes to the Dark Arts, I believe in a practical approach."

I know he's going to talk about the Unforgivable Curses next.

"But first, which of you can tell me, how many Unforgivable Curses are there?"

Before Hermione could say it, I said:

"There are 3 of them."

All heads turned to me. Even Draco's and Hermione's. I could tell they did not expect me to know that.

"You are the new girl aren't you?"
"Yes, sir."

Professor Moody continued, "Anyway, why are they so named?"
"As the name itself suggests, they are unforgivable. If even one of them is used--"

Before I finished he interrupted, "Will earn you a one-way ticket to Azkaban, correct. 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!

So, which curse shall we see first? Weasley!"
Ron stood up.
"Give us a curse."
"Well, my dad did tell me about one... The Imperius Curse."
"Oh 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."

He strolled over to the table and revealed something... a spider of some sort and I immediately know what's about to happen next.

"Is he going to demonstrate on the poor creature?" Hermione whispered over to me. I knew the answer but,
"I don't know, but I hope not."

"Engorgio."

As we horrifically stared at the growing spider, Mad-Eye Moody proceeded to demonstrate the first curse.

"Imperio!"

Moody did not stop over there. He started swinging it all over the classroom! Students screamed when it landed on them, as I hid underneath my bench.

"Don't worry. It's completely harmless." He said as he continued to swing it around to the fun as well as horror of students.

After a while, he picked a boy who had a kind of round face to name the second curse.

"There's the... The Cruciatus Curse."
"Correct, correct. Come, come. Particularly nasty."

With a flick of his wand, Mad-Eye Moody cast the second curse at the poor spider and it began writhing in pain. It's legs twitched horribly and the scene was very uncomfortable to look at. Reading was one thing, and witnessing it... was completely different.

As silence hung around the air while the spider was being tortured for what felt like eternity, Hermione stood up.

"Stop it! Can't you see it's bothering him, stop it!" She yelled. Mad-Eye Moody turned to her, continuing to abuse the creature. I glanced over at the boy who looked like he was about to cry. Mad-Eye Moody stopped while the spider whined in pain.

"Perhaps, you could give us the last curse, Ms. Granger?" A trembling Hermione shook her head.

"The Killing Curse. Only one person is known to have survived it. And he's sitting in this room." Mad-Eye Moody looked straight at Harry.

"No?"

"Avada Kedavra!"

The spider went limp.

"Class dismissed!"

We packed up in silence. Not long before Hermione laid a hand on my shoulder.

"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Well, you're new to magic and you just witnessed the most horrible curses in the Wizarding World right in your very first class..."
"Thank you for your concern. But I'm alright."