chapter twelve : Mad-Eye Moody

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Surprisingly, it was Juniper who woke up first. The black haired turned her head to look at her friends, who were still sleeping. She never woke up before them.

Knowing she still had some time before she actually had to wake up, she took some pieces of parchment and a quill with an ink pot. She would use this time to write several letters starting with one to Tonks as to why she didn't tell her about the Triwizard Tournamemt, because for Merlin's sake, they were sisters. June then send a letter to Sirius to tell him she was thinking of entering and she wanted to know what he thought of it. At the bottom of the page, she included a note to Kreacher, telling him she already missed him.

The last one she was going to write, was one for Charlie.

Dear Charlie,

We know about the Triwizard Tournamemt, Dumbledore told us yesterday. I think it's pretty cool so I'm thinking of entering.

You never guess who our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher is. It's Moody! Mad-Eye Moody! The famous Auror! I have yet to have a class from him but I'm sure it'll be pretty great.

I'm also excited for Beauxbatons and Durmstrang to arrive. It'll be good to see some new — and old, since Timothée'll come too (I hope) — faces.

Anyway, I hope I don't disturb you by writing this letter.

June

By the time she had folded the three letters, Angelina and Alicia had woken up and the three of them got dressed. June put the letters in her bag, she was going to post them later that day, and they went down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

"I've got Charms and Transfiguration first and then Defence Against the Dark Arts," Alicia said, looking over her timetable.

"Me too," Juniper said, laying her timetable next to her plate before taking a toast.

"Same over here," Angelina said. "We've got a lot of subjects with the Hufflepuffs."

"That's an improvement," Alicia said. "I got tired of the Slytherins."

The three finished their breakfast before taking their bags and heading to Charms.

"You go and save me a seat," June said to Angelina and Alicia, as she saw Cedric. "I need to ask Diggory something."

Juniper made her way to the Hufflepuff. "Hey, Diggory!"

Cedric turned around and gave her a smile. "Black."

"I just wanted to ask you a favor," June said.

"Sure," the blond haired boy said. "What is it?"

"Well, I know a second year who's interested in joining the Quidditch Team and I just wanted to ask you to give him a chance."

"I give everyone who wants to tryout a chance," Cedric pointed out. "But what's his name?"

"Liam and he's a real sweetheart, just don't tell him I said that."

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Everyone was excited for the first lesson of Defence Against the Dark Arts. That's why June dragged Angelina and Alicia with her rather early so they could sit into the three chairs right in front of the teacher's desk. Fred, George and Lee took the chairs behind them and they took out their books. They waited, unusually quiet.

Soon enough, they heard Moody's distinctive clunking footsteps coming down the corridor, and he entered the room, looking as strange and frightening as ever. June could just see his clawed, wooden foot protruding from underneath his robes.

"You can put those away," he growled, stumping over to his desk and sitting down, "those books. You won't need them."

They returned the books to their bags, Angelina looking excited.

Moody took out a register, shook his long mane of grizzled grey hair out of his twisted and scarred face and began to call out names, his normal eye moving steadily down the list while his magical eye swiveled around, fixing upon each student as he or she answered.

"Right then," he said, when the last person had declared themselves present, "I've had a letter from Professor Lupin about this class. Seems you've had a pretty thorough grounding in tackling Dark creatures and spells — you've covered Ghouls, Pixies, Snakes, jinxes and hexes, is that right?"

There was a general murmur of assent.

"But you're behind — very behind — on dealing with curses," Moody said. "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?" George blurted out.

Moody's magical eye spun around to stare at George; George looked extremely apprehensive, but after a moment Moody smiled — the first time June had seen him do so. The effect was to make his heavily scarred face look more twisted and contorted than ever, but it was nevertheless a relief to know that he ever did anything as friendly as smile. George looked deeply relieved.

"You'll be Arthur Weasley's son, eh?" Moody said. "Your father got me out of a very tight corner of few days ago . . . yeah, I'm staying just the one year. Special favor to Dumbledore . . . one year, and then back to my retirement."

He gave a harsh laugh, and then clapped hug 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 counter-curses 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 'til 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 pull 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.

So . . . do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by wizarding law?"

Serval hands rose tentatively in the air, including George's, Alicia's and June's. Moody pointed at George.

"Er," George said tentatively, "my dad told me about one . . . is it called the Imperius Curse, or something?"

"Ah, yes," Moody said appreciatively. "Your father would know that one. 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.

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 leapt from Moody's hand on a fine thread of silk, and began to swing backwards and forwards as though on a trapeze. It stretched out its legs rigidly, then did a backflip, breaking the thread and landing on the desk, where it began to cartwheel in circles. Moody jerked his wand, and the spider rose onto two of its hind legs and went into what was unmistakably a tap dance.

Everyone was laughing — everyone except Moody and June. The latter looked at the spider in utter horror. The thought that someone would be capable to control her actions was terrifying.

"Think it's funny, do you?" he growled. "You'd like it, would you, if I did it to you?"

The laughter died away almost instantly.

"Total control," Moody said quietly, as the spider balled itself up and began to roll over and over. "I could make it jump out of the window, down itself, throw itself down one of your throats . . .

Years back, there were a lot of witches and wizards being controlled by the Imperius Curse," Moody said, and Juniper 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 strenght of character, and not everyone's got it. Better avoid being hit with it if you can. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he barked, and everyone jumped, Juniper rolling her eyes since Tonks had told her about it.

Moody picked up the somersaulting spider and threw it back into the jar. "Anyone else know one? Another illegal curse?"

Alicia's hand rose in the air again.

"Yes?" Moody said, his magical eye rolling right over to fix on Alicia.

"There's one — the Cruciatus Curse," Alicia said.

Moody bidden but didn't say anything. Turning back to the class at large, he reached into the jar for the next spider and placed it upon the desktop, where it remains motionless, apparently too scared to move.

"The Cruciatus Curse," Moody said. "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.

Moody raised his wand again, pointing it at the spider, and muttered: "Crucio!"

At once, the spider's leg bent upon its body; it rolled over and began to twitch horribly, rocking from side to side. No sound came from it, but June was sure that if it could have given voice, it would have been screaming.

After what seemed forever, Moody raised his wand. The spider's legs relaxed, but it continued to twitch.

"Reducio," moody muttered, and the spider shrank back to its proper size. He put it back into the jar.

"Pain," Moody said softly. "You don't need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can perform the Cruciatus Curse . . . that one was very pupular once, too . . . Right . . . anyone know any others?"

June's hand rose slowly.

"Yes, Miss Black?" Moody said, eying her carefully with both eyes.

"Avada Kedavra," she replied.

Serval people looked uneasily around at her, including Fred and George.

"Ah," Moody said, another slight smile twisting his lop-sides mouth. "Yes, the last and worst. Avada Kedavra . . . the killing curse."

He put his hand into the glass jar, and almost as though it knew what was coming, the third spider scuttled frantically around the bottom of the jar, trying to evade Moody's fingers, but he trapped it, and placed it upon the desktop. It started to scuttle frantically across the wooden surface.

Moody raised his wand, and June felt a shiver running up her spine.

"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, unmarked, but unmissably dead. Serval of the girls stifled cries.

Moody swept through dead spider off the desk onto the floor.

"Not nice," he said calmly. "Not pleasant. And there no counter-curse. There's no blocking it. Only one known person has ever survived it, and he's somewhere in this castle."

Juniper knew he meant Harry.

"Avada Kedavra's a curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behind it — you could all get your wands out now and point them at me and say the words, and I doubt I'd get so much as a nose-bleed," Moody said, snapping me out of my thoughts. "But that doesn't matter. I'm not here to teach you how to do it.

Now, if there's no-counter curse, why am I showing you? Because you've got to know. You've got to appreciate what the worst is. You don't want to find yourself in a situation where you're facing it. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he roared, and the whole class jumped again.

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 arming. But most of all, you need to practice constant, never-ceasing vigilance. Get out your quills . . . copy this down . . ."

They spent the rest of the lesson taking notes on each of the Unforgivable Curses. No one spoke until the bell rang — but when Moody had dismissed us and they left the classroom, a torrent of talk burst forth. Most people were discussing the curses in awed voices — "Did you see it twitch?" "— and when he killed it — just like that!"

They were talking about the lesson as though it had been some sort of spectacular show, but Juniper hadn't found it very entertaining — and nor it's seemed had Alicia and Angelina. Fred, George and Lee, however, were talking excitedly.

"I don't think I'm very hungry," Angelina said, as they made their way down to the Great Hall for dinner.

"That's a first," Alicia said.

Juniper didn't speak up as her mind was still with the spiders. They were making their way through the Entrance Hall when suddenly —

BANG!

Several people screamed. The three of them ducked when a second loud BANG was heard, and a roar which echoed through the Entrance Hall.

"OH NO YOU DON'T, LADDIE!"

June spun around. Professor Moody was limping down the marble staircase. His wand was out and it was pointing right at a pure white ferret, which was shivering on the stone-flagged floor.

There was a terrified silence in the Entrance Hall. Nobody but Moody was moving a muscle.

"Did he get you?" Moody growled, looking at Harry. His voice was low and gravelly.

"No," Harry said, "missed."

Someone had tried to curse Harry? June thought warily.

"LEAVE IT!" Moody shouted.

"Leave — what?" Harry said, bewildered.

"Not you — him!" Moody growled, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at Crabbe, who had just frozen, about to pick up the white ferret. It seemed that Moody's rolling eye was magical and could see out of the back of his head.

Moody started to limp towards Crabbe, Goyle and the ferret, which gave a terrified squeak and took off, streaking towards the dungeons.

"I don't think so!" Moody roared, pointing his wand at the ferret again — it flew ten feet into the air, fell with a smack to the floor, and then bounced upwards once more.

Juniper, who had put one and one together, realised that Moody had turned Draco into a ferret. The black haired pushed through the crowd, trying to get to both her cousins.

"I don't like people who attack when their opponent's back's turned," Moody growled, as the ferretbounced higher and higher, squealing in pain. "Stinking, cowardly, scummy thing to do . . ."

The ferret flew through the air, its legs and tail flailing helplessly.

"Stop it!" Juniper exclaimed, glaring at Moody, her hand on her wand.

Everyone around them stopped talking and were looking at June and Professor Moody, who was eying the black haired carefully. However, when he didn't stop, June pulled her wand out of her robes, making the crowd take a couple of steps back.

"I said stop it," she hissed, her hazel eyes narrowing as she looked at the Auror in front of her.

"Professor Moody! Miss Black!" a shocked voice said.

Professor McGonagall was coming down the marble staircase with her arms full of books.

"Hello, Professor McGonagall," Moody said calmly, his eyes not leaving June.

"What — what are you doing?" Professor McGonagall asked. "Miss Black, why do you have your wand out?"

"Because he —" she nodded at Moody "— doesn't want to change Draco back."

"Change — Moody, is that a student?" Professor McGonagall shrieked, the books spilling out of her arms.

"Yep," Moody said, not seeming sorry in the slightest.

"No!" Professor McGonagall cried, running down the stairs and pulling out her wand; a moment later, with a loud snapping noise, Draco Malfoy had reappeared, lying in a heap on the floor with his sleek blond hair all over his now brilliantly pink face. He got to his feet, wincing. Juniper went to stand in front of him, covering from sight.

"Moody, we never use Transfiguration as a punishment!" Professor McGonagall said weakly. "Surely Professor Dumbledore told you that?"

"He might've mentioned it, yeah," Moody said, scratching his chin unconcernedly, "but I thought a good sharp shock —"

"We give detentions, Moody! Or speak to the offender's Head of house!"

"I'll do that, then," Moody said, staring at Draco from over June's shoulder, with great dislike.

Draco, whose pale eyes were still watering with pain and humiliation, looked malevolently up at Moody and muttered something in which the words 'my father' were distinguishable.

"Oh yeah?" Moody said quietly, limping forward a few steps, the dull clunk of his wooden leg echoing around the hall, June tightened the grip on her wand. "Well, I know your father of old, boy . . . you tell him Moody's keeping a close eye on his son . . . you tell him that from me . . . now, your Head of house'll be Snape, will it?"

"Yes," Draco said resentfully.

"Another old friend," Moody growled. "I've been looking forward to a chat with old Snape . . . come on, you . . ." And he seized Draco's upper arm and marched him off towards the dungeons.

Professor McGonagall stared anxiously after them for a few moments, then waved her wand at her fallen books, causing them to soar up into the air and back into her arms.

"Miss Black, a word please," she said.

Juniper gestured for Angelina and Alicia to go into the Great Hall, before making her way towards her Head of House.

"If this is about me raising my wand to Professor Moody, than I have to disappoint you, because I will not apologize to him," June said, crossing her arms. "I'm a Prefect. It's my duty to secure the safety of the students."

Professor McGonagall gave her a small smile. "Stubborn as your mother, I see."

"That doesn't have to be a bad thing."

"I didn't say it was." Professor McGonagall eyed her carefully. "I won't give you detention," she eventually said.

"Thank you, Professor."

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Published 28.11.2020

I hope you enjoyed it & tell me what you think of it!

Next up: Quidditch tryouts!!

Ps: for those of you who are interested I just published a new book "Kick Off". It's one of the few non-fanfic stories that I've writen and I hope you like it so feel free to check it out!!

Pss: if you're more of a fantasy reader that's okay — I was thinking of publishing a (fantasy) book, but that'll have to wait until I'm halfway through "Kick Off". Tell me if you'd be interested to read that!

Psss: thank you for all the sweet comments! They really make my day (+ they make me want to write faster)! I'm so happy you all like it!!