Two Souls

Chapter Fourteen

The next two days trail by uneventfully. I've gotten friendlier with Blair, Daphne, and Blaise while the rest of the Slytherin girls are complicated but civil to me. It's now Thursday- our first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson with Professor Moody.

Draco has made it very clear to the Slytherins that he thinks Professor Moody is under qualified and boorish. "I give him a month before my father gets him fired," is one of his daily quotes now.

My other classes have been alright, except for Potions. It has always been my most difficult class. Professor Snape has taken a liking for me, however, and hasn't taken away any house points even though I nearly melted my cauldron in his class.

"I've heard Professor Moody is exceptionally dark," Blair informs me as the two of us walk into Moody's class. All the Gryffindors have taken the front seats, so we take a seat towards the back of the room. Moody catches my eye and gives me a nod before we sit down.

Draco and his two friends enter in moments after we do, with scowls etched upon their faces. Draco takes the spot next to Blaise and Goyle on his other side, leaving me to sit right next to pudgy Crabbe.

"You can put those away," Moody says to a row of Gryffindors with their textbooks out. "Those books, you won't need them," He says.

Hermione turns around and looks at me, and we exchange a confused glance. The rest of the class murmurs in confusion before Moody shushes them.

"I've received a letter from Professor Lupin. You've covered boggarts, Red Caps, hinkypunks, grindylows, Kappas, and werewolves, is that right?" He asks. The class, other than me, nods in agreement.

"But you're very behind on dealing with the curses. So I'm here to bring you up to scratch on what wizards can do to each other. I've got one year to teach you how to deal with Dark-"

"What, aren't you staying?" Ron blurts out.

Moody turns around to stare at a now apprehensive Ron. Draco snickers. But, much to my relief, Moody smiles at Ron. "You'll be Arthur Weasley's son, eh?" He says. "Your father got me out of a very tight corner a few days ago... Yeah, I'm stay- ing just the one year. Special favor to Dumbledore... One year, and then back to my quiet retirement."

He releases a harsh laugh, and then claps his gnarled hands together. "So — straight into it. Curses. They come in many strengths and forms. Now, according to the Ministry of Magic, I'm supposed to teach you countercurses and leave it at that. I'm not supposed to show you what illegal Dark curses look like until you're in the sixth year. You're not supposed to be old enough to deal with it till then. But Professor Dumbledore's got a higher opinion of your nerves,
he reckons you can cope, and I say, the sooner you know what you're up against, the better. How are you supposed to defend yourself against something you've never seen? A wizard who's about to put an illegal curse on you isn't going to tell you what he's about to do. He's not going to do it nice and polite to your face. You need to be prepared. You need to be alert and watchful. You need to put that away, Miss Brown, when I'm talking."

A Gryffindor girl, who I now know as Lavender Brown, jumps and blushes. She had been showing another girl her horoscope from Divination.

"So.. do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by wizarding law?" Moody asks. A few hands shoot up, including mine and Hermione's, as his eyes curiously travel over the room. Moody points are me, though his eye is still fixed on Lavender.

"The Imperius Curse, the Cruciatus Curse, and the Avada Kedavra Curse," I say matter of factly. Last year, my professor Mr. Tom, put a large emphasis on the unforgivable curses.

Moody reaches into a jar and pulls out a spider. "Imperio!" He commands, forcing the spider to perform rigorous acrobatic stunts such as back-flips and kicks. The whole class explodes with laughter, even sour Draco has a smile on his lips.

"Think it's funny, do you? You'd like it, would you, if I did it to you?" He growls, with no trace of smile or laughter on his lips. The laughter dies away almost instantly. Professor Moody continues to explain how during the days of Voldemort, many wizards and witches were placed under the Imperius curse.

"The Cruciatus Curse," Moody says, clearing his throat. "It needs to be a bit bigger for you to get the idea," He says, pointing his wand at another spider. "Engorgio!"

The spider grows, larger than a tarantula. Draco and I lean over our desks in awe, while most of the Slytherins draw back in disgust. "Crucio!" Moody commands to the spider.

The spider began to twitch horribly, rocking from side to side. It wasn't making any noise, but it would be screaming if it could.

"Stop it!" Hermione shrieks from the front.

Moody lifts his wand and the spider shrinks and stops twitching. "Pain," He says softly, looking around the classroom. "You don't need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can perform the Cruciatus Curse," He says.

The class looks uneasy as they prepare for Moody's explanation of the Killing Curse. He lifts a third spider from the jar and places it on the table.

"Avada Kedavra!" He says. Several students yell out cries and Ron looks like he's about to be sick. Many of the Slytherins, including Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle, are looking at Moody with no emotion. A flash of green light erupts through his wand and the spider falls to its side, lifeless.

"Not nice, not pleasant. And there's no counter curse. There's no blocking it. Only one known person has ever survived it, and he's sitting right in front of me," Moody says. All eyes drift towards Harry, who is filled with embarrassment.

Poor Harry... this was how his parents had died.

"Now.. those three curses — Avada Kedavra, Imperius, and Cruciatus — are known as the Unforgivable Curses. The use of any one of them on a fellow human being is enough to earn a life sentence in Azkaban. That's what you're up against. That's what I've got to teach you to fight. You need preparing. You need arm- ing. But most of all, you need to practice constant, never-ceasing vigilance. Get out your quills, copy this down.. ."

For the remainder of the class, we copy down notes about the unforgivable curses silently. I can't help but feel uneasy until the bell rings. Once all the students exit, a loud burst of chatter erupts.

"Did you see it twitch?"

"When he killed it, just like that!"

"The green light was awful!"

While everyone else had found the lesson entertaining, I hadn't considered it to be a spectacular show. No, the unforgivable curses were everything but wonderful. They're used to torture and kill innocent people.