𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐋𝐄𝐒 𝐂𝐑𝐔𝐌𝐁𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 (OC x OC)

[004] Chapter 5 - anti-hero

"i'm a monster on the hill."

Makayla

At the end dinner the other day when Dumbledore announced the Tri-Wizard Tournament, the Minister of Magic announced that no student under the age of 17 could participate in the Tri-Wizard Tournamnet. Lucky for me, I'm 15, so I don't have to even worry about it.

Many of the other students in my year who wanted to do it, though, are upset about it. For example: Fred and George. Meanwhile, Cedric, who's 17, is quite excited. He's a sixth year, which usually means you're 16, but he's old and started late, so that's how he's even able to enter in the first place.

I'm sitting in Defense Against the Dark Arts class, which the Slytherins have with the Gryffindors. I have the class with the fourth and fifth years, so that means that Harry, Hermione, and Ron are in my class.

Sitting next to me in the front row is Louis, and in front of us are Jordyn and Theo. I really wish she would've let me swap places with her.

Moody is standing at the front of the class, introducing himself.

"Alastor Moody," he says. "Ex-auror... Ministry malcontent... And your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I am here because Dumbledore asked me. End of story, goodbye, the end. Any questions?"

The room is silent.

He waits a moment before saying, "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?"

"Three sir," Hermione and I say merely at the same time.

"And they are so named?" he asks.

"Because they are unforgivable..." Hermione says, dreading the fact that she has to say it.

I decide to finish the rest of the explanation for her, saying, "The use of any one of them will—"

Professor Moody then cuts me off and finishes my sentence by saying, "Earn you a one-way ticket to Azkaban, correct." He turns back to face us. "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!" he turns around again, walking back to the chalkboard. "You need to be prepared! You need to find another place to put your chewing gum besides the other side of your desk, Mr. Finnigan!"

The whole classroom turns to look at Seamus as he murmurs something. Probably, "How'd he hear that?" but I don't know because I didn't hear it.

Moody then throws the piece of chalk at Seamus and says, "I can hear across classrooms!" He then takes a step forward, "So, which curse shall we see first? Weasley!"

Ron fearfully and immediately responds with, "Yes?"

"Stand." To this, Ron stands. "Give us a curse."

"Well... My dad did tell me about one," Ron says as Moody hums in approval. "The Imperius Curse?"

"Oh, yes," Moody murmurs. "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 walks to the front of the room, taking out a spider. My heart stops in my chest.

I lean over and whisper to Louis, "If he controls it to come over here, I'm using you as a human shield."

Louis scoffs playfully before Moody says, "Imperio!"

He then controls it to jump onto a few desks. Then, it jumps onto Crabbe's head, which makes me burst out laughing. It keeps jumping around, landing on Ron's head, then going onto Draco's face, then, it finally jumps onto our desk. Louis and I immediately jump up, causing the room to laugh as I instinctively pull my wand out.

"What're you gonna do with that?" Louis asks like I'm stupid.

"I don't know!"

Moody moves the spider away from our desk as I let out a breath of relief and sit back down at the same time as Louis.

"What should I have her do next? Jump out the window?" he asks, the spider flying at the window and hitting a magnifying glass. "Drown herself?" The spider is now hovering over a pitcher of water.

As he brings the spider back to his hand, he says, "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?" He walks over to Neville and I see where he's going with this immediately. "Longbottom, is it? Stand up." Once Neville is standing, Moody says, "Professor Sprout says you have an aptitude for Herbology."

Neville nods, "There's the, um... The Cruciatus Curse."

"Correct! Correct!" Moody says, motioning for Neville to come forward to the front of the class. "Come, come!" He places the spider on a book, Neville standing there to watch. What the hell is going on in Moody's mind right now? "Crucio!"

The spider screams in pain and it's obvious that Neville is having a hard time watching, not even wanting to watch at all. Hermione is having a hard time watching as well, same as I.

I'm unable to stop myself from shouting, "Stop it! Can't you see it's bothering him? Stop it!"

He then stops and clears his throat, picking the spider up and placing it on the books in front of me, my breath hitching at the sight of it, "Perhaps you could give us the last unforgivable curse, Miss Malfoy..."

I hesitantly take my wand out, feeling Louis' eyes bare into the side of my skull as my voice comes out shakily, "Avada Kedavra..."

The spider is now dead. I can feel Harry's eyes on the back of my head as well. Everyone is staring at me now. I don't know how to feel.

"The Killing Curse," Moody announces after a moment, walking over to Harry. "Only one person is known to have survived it... and he's sitting in this room."

As we walk out of class, I see Moody bring Neville back into the room, saying he wants to 'show him something.' Either way, I can't escape from what people saw in class. Jordyn, Louis, Mattheo, and Theo are all asking about it.

"What the hell, Makayla?" Mattheo asks as he catches up with me.

"You just did that, no questions asked?" Theo adds, walking up to us.

"There's a reason those are unforgivable, Makayla!" Jordyn shouts.

I manage to get away from them in time to catch up with Louis, who almost immediately asks, "Why'd you do it?"

I sigh, shaking my head slightly as I respond, "I don't know..."

He nods slowly as the people around us glare at me.

Great.