Skinny Love (Fred Weasley)

Chapter 6

The next few days passed by quickly. I heard that Professor Moody turned Malfoy into a ferret. A FERRET. The thought of it makes my lips curled upwards every single time. Also, according to George, Moody's class is...different. I know Severus has been in a bad mood these days for obvious reason. I just hope he will cool down soon so I can ask him where I am supposed to get a dress robe for whatever event is coming up. The Gryffindor fourth years were looking forward to Moody's first lesson so much that they arrived early on Thursday lunchtime and queued up outside his classroom before the bell had even rung. We found our seats and take out our books; waiting for the one eyed professor. Soon, he walked in and growled," You can put those books away. We don't need them." "I like him!" Ron said excitedly. I nodded with a big smile, agreeing with him. "Right then," he said, "I've had a letter from Professor Lupin about this class. Seems you've had a pretty thorough grounding in tackling Dark creatures - But you're 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." His magical eye scanned across the room, "So... do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by wizarding law?" Several hands rose tentatively into the air, including Ron's and Hermione's. Moody pointed at Ron,  Wow. I feel stupid. "Er," said Ron tentatively, "my dad told me about one.. . . Is it called the Imperius Curse, or something?" "Ah, yes," said Moody appreciatively. "It gave the Ministry a lot of trouble at one time, the Imperius Curse." Moody got heavily to his mismatched feet, opened his desk drawer, and took out a glass jar. Three large black spiders were scuttling around inside it. I felt Ron retreat slightly next to him - Ron hated spiders. Moody reached into the jar, caught one of the spiders, and held it in the palm of his hand so that we could all see it. He then pointed his wand at it and muttered, "Imperio!"The spider  stretched out its legs stiffly, then did a back flip,  and began carwheel in circle. 

Everyone was laughing -  except Moody.

"Think it's funny, do you?" he growled. "Would you like it if I do this to you?" The laughter died away  instantly. "Total control," said Moody quietly as the spider balled itself up and began to roll over and over. "I could make it jump out of the window, drown itself, throw itself down one of your throats..." Ron gave an involuntary shudder. "Years back, there were a lot of witches and wizards being controlled by the Imperius Curse," said Moody, and I knew he was talking about the days in which Voldemort had been all-powerful. "Some job for the Ministry, trying to sort out who was being forced to act, and who was acting of their own free will. "The Imperius Curse can be fought, and I'll be teaching you how, but it takes real strength of character, and not everyone's got it. Better avoid being hit with it if you can. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he barked, and everyone jumped. Moody picked up the somersaulting spider and threw it back into the jar. "Anyone else know one? Another illegal curse?" Hermione's hand flew into the air again and surprisingly, Neville's. "Yes?" said Moody, his magical eye rolling right over to fix on Neville. "There's one - the Cruciatus Curse," said Neville in a small but distinct voice. Moody was looking very intently at Neville, this time with both eyes. "Your name's Longbottom?" he said, his magical eye swooping down to check the register again. Neville nodded nervously, but Moody made no further inquiries. Turning back to the class at large, he reached into the jar for the next spider and placed it upon the desktop, where it remained motionless, apparently too scared to move. "The Cruciatus Curse," said Moody. "Needs to be a bit bigger for you to get the idea," he said, pointing his wand at the spider. "Engorgio!" The spider swelled. It was now larger than a tarantula. Abandoning all pretense, Ron pushed his chair backward, as far away from Moody's desk as possible. Moody raised his wand again, pointed it at the spider, and muttered, "Crucio!" At once, the spider's legs bent in upon its body; it rolled over and began to twitch horribly, rocking from side to side. No sound came from it, but I'm sure that if it could have given voice, it would have been screaming. Moody did not remove his wand, and the spider started to shudder and jerk more violently - "Stop it!" Hermione said shrilly. "Reducio," Moody muttered, and the spider shrank back to its proper size. He put it back into the jar. "Pain," said Moody softly. "You don't need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can perform the Cruciatus Curse. . . . That one was very popular once too. Suddenly, it hit me. The curse was in my dream, torturing the poor woman. Could this be a coincidence? How is it possible for me to dream of something I've never known till now? It's just a dream, Alvina...You shouldn't stress about it.

"Right. . . anyone know any others?" Hermione's hand shook slightly as, for the third time, she raised it into the air. "Yes?" said Moody, looking at her. "Avada Kedavra," Hermione whispered. Several people looked uneasily around at her. I don't have a good feeling for this one. "Ah," said Moody, another slight smile twisting his lopsided mouth. "Yes, the last and worst. Avada Kedavra. .. the Killing Curse. "He put his hand into the glass jar, and grabbed the spider. Moody raised his wand and everyone await for what fate holds for this pitiful spider for the future.

"Avada Kedavra!" Moody roared. There was a flash of blinding green light and a rushing sound, as though a vast, invisible something was soaring through the air - instantaneously the spider rolled over onto its back,  dead. Several of the students stifled cries; Ron had thrown himself backward and almost fell off his seat. Moody swept the dead spider off the desk onto the floor. "Not nice," he said calmly. "Not pleasant. And there's no countercurse. There's no blocking it. Only one known person has ever survived it, and he's sitting right in front of me." Everybody stares at Harry. I glanced at him uneasily. The killing curse was in my dream, too. Or was it even a dream? Was it a memory? Was I the one who did it? Bloody hell! I'm smothering and I can't breathe. I began to feel wave after wave of fear kicking into my stomach. It feels like my heart dropped to the bottom of my foot. My vision blackened. Moody's voice telling us to copy notes down seem so far away...

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