If Only//Harry Potter [4]

6

The Gryffindors and Slytherins sat in their first Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Autumn was, to say the least, nervous. Moody seemed like he would be a great teacher and Ron talked him up a lot, telling the rest of the quartet stories of how he caught some Death Eaters. But, Autumn couldn't help but get the creeps from him. It wasn't from how he looked, even though it might be a reason fro others, it was how he acted. He just stood there, looking around. It was almost like he was waiting for someone to do something wrong so he could imprison them.

"Alastor Moody." Moody wrote his name on a blackboard behind him. "Ex-Auror, Ministry Malcontent, and your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I am here because Dumbledore asked me to — end of story, good-bye, the end. Any questions?" Moody paused for a bit, letting the students take in what he had said.

Autumn stared at Moody, wondering what he would say next.

"I believe in a practical approach when it comes to the Dark Arts. But first, can any of you tell me how many Unforgivable Curses there are?"

Autumn widened her eyes. They weren't supposed to learn about the Unforgivable Curses for years. So why was Moody teaching them now? 

"Three, sir." Hermione answered. 

Autumn was sitting next to her and she could tell Hermione was shaking.

"So named?" Moody asked, writing on the board.

"Because they are unforgivable." Hermione said. "Use any one of them, and you'll—"

"—earn a one way ticket to Azkaban, correct." Moody finished. "The Ministry says you're too young to see what these curses so, but I say different. You need to know what you're up against, you need to be prepared, and you need to find somewhere else to put your chewing gum other than the underside of your desk, Mr. Finnigan!" Moody yelled without turning to face the class.

The class turned in amazement, seeing how Moody didn't turn around, but he still knew that Seamus was putting gum under the desk.

"Aw, no way." Seamus muttered. "The old codger can see out the back of his head."

Moody grabbed the chalk he was writing with and threw it at Seamus.

"So, which curse shall we see first. Weasley!"

Ron jumped in his seat and answered quickly. "Yes."

"Stand."

Ron stood.

"Give us a curse." Moody demanded, making even Autumn shake in fear from the row over.

"Um. . . My dad told me about one. . . the Imperius Curse."

"Ah, yes. Your father would know all about that one. Gave the Ministry quite a bit of grief a few years ago." Moody said, staring at Ron. "Perhaps this will show you why." 

Ron sat down and Moody walked over to a table that had a bunch of animals on it. He took a lip off of one jar. "Hello, what a little beauty." Moody grabbed a spider from the jar and whispered an enlarging charm, causing the spider to be bigger than his hand.

Autumn felt bad for Ron, seeing as his biggest fear was spiders.

"Imperio," said Moody. 

The spider went rigid. Moody swung his wand around and the spider followed. The spider's legs twitched and had no control over it's body. Autumn felt sick to her stomach.

Some students laughed as Moody made the spider crawl on other people. Autumn was not one of those people.

"Don't worry," Moody said. "She's completely harmless. Unless she bites — then she's lethal."