THE TWO WITNESSES | RON WEASLEY [BOOK TWO]

4. A CLOSE SECOND

"Alastor Moody."

Gene jumped awake with a jolt at the coarse voice, her chin slipping in the palm of her hand and she heard Lorelai snort a laugh beside her. As tired as she had been for the past week, she had barely been able to sleep in the comfort of her own bed.

Gene was restless. She had been for months at home, and somehow it had worsened at school. All she could see, all she could hear, all she could even think about was Voldemort and her mother, and now her nightmare from the beginning of summer. Gene was almost sure of the fact that she was seeing directly into Voldemort's own mind, no matter how hard she tried to convince herself of its ridiculousness.

She watched as Moody wrote his name on the board, throwing the chalk across his desk carelessly. The rest of the class, including Gene, watched on as he stalked across the room, each and every one of them silent with fear.

"Ex- Auror. Ministry malcontent. And your new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher. I'm here because Dumbledore asked me, end of
story, goodbye, the end. Any questions?" he asked the class and they were silent still, "When it comes to the Dark Arts, I believe in a practical approach. But first, which of you can tell me how many unforgivable curses there are?"

"Three, sir." Hermione answered, her voice wavering.

"And they are so named?" he asked further.

"Because they are unforgivable. Use of any one of them will-"

"Will earn you a one way ticket to Azkaban. Correct. Now the ministry says you're too young to see what these curses do. 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!"

The class gasped, turning to find Seamus indeed attempting to stick his gum under his desk, though Moody hadn't even turned from the chalkboard.

"So, which curse shall we see first?" the Professor asked, before, "Weasley!" he exclaimed, causing Ron to look up worriedly before nodding. "Give us a curse."

"Well, my dad did tell me about one," he said, "The Imperious Curse."

"Yes, your father would know all about that. Gave the ministry quite a bit of grief a few years ago. Perhaps this will show you why." he headed back towards his desk, opening a small jar to reveal a spider.

All of a sudden, he lifted his wand and sent it flying around the class, landing on various students faces, while Gene only watched on, not amused in the slightest. Draco began to laugh in his seat directly in front of her, which soon proved to be a mistake.

"What are you laughing at?" he asked Draco, sending the spider onto his face and he attempted to slap it away. "Talented isn't she? What shall I have her do next?" he asked as he suddenly hovered the spider by the window, "Jump out the window? Drown herself?" he holds the spider over a bucket of water, and it wriggled in discomfort.

Gene frowned, the sight of the curse in its worst form taking place making her sick, even to a spider. Finally, Professor Moody had relieved the creature of the curse, turning to the class once more as his mechanical eye shifted between the faces of abject horror.

"Scores of witches and wizards have claimed that they only do did you-know-whose bidding under the influence of the imperious curse. But here's the rub, how do we sort out the liars?" he shrugged his shoulders, watching as the students raised their hands, "Longbottom, is it? Up." he stood up, "Professor Sprout tells me you have an aptitude for Herbology." Neville nodded.

"There's the, um- the Cruciatus Curse." Neville answered, clearly in discomfort. It was obvious why. Everyone knew what had happened to his parents.