Unmasked

Don't Be Ashamed

The next day flew by. Breakfast was a blur of laughs, stealing each other's toast, and playful jabs about potions and charms. In herbology, Harry dropped a potted plant which not only screamed at him but slathered him with the muddy earth that was inside. Hermione cleaned it up for him, yet that didn't stop Ron and Pansy making fun of him for the rest of the class and through the next. Lunch came and went just as quickly, a mix of Ron and Draco bickering over quidditch teams (which Harry laughed at) and Hermione telling them off, which ended up with her getting a forkful of beef flung in her face. She wasn't sure which of the boys it came from, so she sent some flying at all three of them. Pansy never admitted that it was her.

Defence Against the Dark Arts arrived soon enough, and Draco hesitated before entering the classroom. He stopped at the door, staring inside, then took a deep breath and strode to his seat. To complete their duelling unit, today's lecture was on the uses and effects of different jinxes, hexes, and curses. Some would be new, others would be familiar, and they were to know how to defend themselves from them all. The students sat quietly as they waited for Snape to enter the room, books propped open and quills ready to take down notes. A moment later Snape swept up the aisle and stood at the front of the class, taking them in silently.

He tapped his wand in his open palm as he spoke. "Jinxes... hexes... curses... I expect I don't need to inform you of what they are or... how dangerous they can be. However, we will be going over some specifics in detail, and I will expect you to understand how to block or undo them by next week. Is that clear?" The class nodded in unison and Snape returned it curtly. "First off... you should all remember the effects of petrificus totalus?" The class nodded again. "Stupefy?" Another group nod. "Levicorpus?" Some of the class nodded, and the other half looked at their desks. Hermione raised her hand. "Miss Granger?"

"Levicorpus hangs the victim in the air by their feet, sir."

"And the counterspell?"

"Liberacorpus."

"Yes... How about locomotor mortis?"

Hermione's hand shot up once again. "It's the leg-binding curse."

"Yes, again... Now, incarcerous?"

The class was silent, no one making eye-contact. In the front of the room, Theodore Nott put up his hand, and was called on. "Sends fire out of the tip of your wand?"

Snape scowled. "No... that would be lacarnum inflamarae. Does anyone know what incarcerous does?" Shakily, a hand rose in the middle of the room. "Yes, Mr. Malfoy."

Draco attempted to steady his voice. "It ties the victim up with rope, sir."

Snape eyed him. "Correct. Do you know the counter curse?"

"No, sir."

"Very well. You will learn soon enough. How about... langlock?" The class waited silently for someone to answer.

Again, Draco raised his hand. "It glues the victims tongue to the roof of their mouth so they can't talk."

Snape paused and looked at the blond boy in front of him, who didn't even have to pause to think. "Obscuro?"

"It blindfolds you."

"Oppugno?"

"Makes any conjured items attack you."

"Expulso?"

"Makes things explode."

"Everte statum?"

"Throws you backwards."

"Ferula?"

"Creates bandag—wait. That's not an offensive spell."