Eleanor Snape- Book 2

"Contstant Vigilance"

Sarah Beth-

"Hi, Nathaniel" I happily plopped down in my usual front row seat in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Salutations!" The golden haired boy looked up from the parchment he was writing on.

"Are you ready to learn defensed of the dark art kind?"

"Yes, yes I am!"

"Woo hoo!" We both started laughing. I had been sitting next to him since the beginning of the year, and it was a joke that we both hated this class with every fiber of our beings.

"I miss Professor Lupin." I said to him as I started getting out my own quill and parchment for when Professor Moody came.

"Ha! I'd say!"

"Yeah, this  Professor is way too dreary for me, not to mention eccentric!" He laughed again.

"Sarah Beth, you are eccentric!"

"Yeah, but I'm not dreary!" He raised an eyebrow, as if questioning my sanity. He suddenly went completely silent. "What? You look like you're looking at a ghost or something-"

"Cumberland!" I averted my eyes to see Professor Moody standing at the front of the classroom. "Shut your mouth so I can start class!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't notice you come-"

"Constant Vigilance!" He exclaimed, making every single person in the class jump. "This is a perfect example of when one need to have constant vigilance! If I were a dark wizard, I could have killed her on the spot, because she was not paying attention! 10 points from Hufflepuff!" I sighed as everyone from my House glared at me. Nathaniel held back a smile and patted my hand as if to say 'it'll be fine'.

"Today I am going over the last and most dangerous, forbidden, and unforgivable curse: The Killing Curse." I picked up my quill and wrote in my neat, swirly writing:

The Killing Curse

"The Killing Curse, Avada Kedevera, is the worse thing a wizard can do to another. It will instantly kill a person, whether they be wizard, witch or Muggle. Only one person has been known to survive, and we all should know who that is."

I quickly wrote down 'Harry Potter'. Soon after, my thoughts started to wonder. I started to doodle what ever came to mind; a crudely drawn unicorn. A flower. A heart. I started to write out beside of it: G-R-E-G-O-R-

"Cumberland!" A pair of rough, scarred hands slammed down in front of me, covering up my parchment. "Why are you drawing in my class?"

"I-"

"Constant Vigilance! Again, you didn't notice me!"

"I-"

"Silencio!" I was suddenly unable to speak. "Vigilance is the most important thing you can have. It can save your life! To prove my point, you are going to stand in front of the class for the remainder of the time. Be vigilant." I blankly stared at him. He snarled, annoyed, and waved his wand. My chair suddenly went out from under me, making me fall to the floor. "Go on." He nodded as I got off the ground. He turned around to lead me to the front of the room. He waved his wand again, taking the silencing charm off of me.

"Nutter." I mouthed to Nathaniel as I walked by him.

"I saw that." Professor Moody said, his back still turned to me. I shivered and decided to keep my mouth shut, because I knew exactly how he saw it: that magic eye. It gave me the creeps.

Once I was up there, that was it. He made me stand there and "be vigilant". He continued with his lesson.

"No one knows how or why Harry Potter survived the Killing Curse, but whatever the reason it was a good thing..." He droned on and on (not nearly as bad as Professor Binns, but it was still pretty bad). How much was there to learn about that one curse? I would never be using it. I suppose there would be a lot to learn if you went into it's different usages in history, but it still didn't make sense. There was no counter curse, and this was DEFENSE Against the Dark Arts-

"Stupify!" He yelled, making me jump. Before I had time to react, the spell hit me square in the chest, hard enough to make me stumble. The whole class laughed as he limped over to me.

"Are you okay?" He asked, although his voice sounded completely unconcerned.

"Y-yeah." I managed, shaken.

"Now do you see why you should not let your guard down? Return to your seat."

"Okay." I turned back around to see the whole class, yet again, starring at me. It must have been a wonderful performance, watching me almost fall on my bum. It probably really made most of their days. It would have made mine.

To prove a point, I widely smiled and started blowing kisses here and there, until, finally, I bowed. After all, as the wise man once said, 'the world is your stage'. There was no way I wasn't going to let that go un-rewarded.

I made my way to my seat as the whole class started applauding in wonder. Proudly, I sat down, still smiling. I had to let Professor Moody know that he couldn't faze me.

"Enough." Professor Moody's harsh voice quieted everyone down. "Cumberland. See me after class." My smile immediately fell.