Eleanor Snape- Book 2

The Cruciatus Curse

"You can put those away." Professor Moody growled after he saw everyone axiously waiting for him. "those books. You won't need them." He took out a register and started calling otu names. He started with the Gryfindors, so I ignored him."

"How do you think class will be this year?" I asked Vince, who was sitting to the right of me. There was no point in asking Draco. A couple days earlier, he had an experienced a traumatic event in which Moody turned him into a beautiful, white ferret. Needless to say, Draco despised Moody, even though it was in a frightened way.

"I don't know. This guy seems crazy!"

"Snape!" Professor Moody exclaimed, making me jump. Both mine and Vince's heads snapped forward. "I see you are here. Pay attention in my class." I blushed.

"Yes, sir..."

"Right, then. I've had a letter from Professor Lupin about this class." I rolled my eyes. I despised Lupin. The year before he had almost failed me due to the fact that a Bogart had scarred me to the point of fainting. "Seems you've had a pretty thorough grading tackling dark creatures- you've covered Bogarts, Red Caps, Himby Thunks, grindylows, Kappas, and werewolves, is that right?"

I took a deep breath, recalling the finals last year. I did overcome all of those...but the Bogart. The Bogart had defeated me, making me loose consciousness. And the afterward, when Uncle Severus spoke the truth by calling me "young, weak, and vulnerable."

"But you've behind- very behind- on dealing with 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-" I started listening a bit more intently there, until Potter's Ginger Friend interrupted him.

"What, aren't you staying!?" Professor Moody did something none of us were expecting; he smiled.

"You'll be Arthur Weasley's son, eh? Your father..." He continued, but I tuned him out. The last thing I wanted to hear about was the Weasleys.

"That was in the Prophet." Vince whispered to me. I just nodded, since I  wasn't listening, so I was unsure of what he was talking about. Up front, Moody clapped his hands.

"So- straight into it. Curses. They come in many strengths and forms. Now, according to the Ministry of Magic, I'm suppose 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 suppose 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 how are you suppose to go up 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, Ms. Brown, when I'm talking."

We all looked over to see a Gryfindor girl quickly slip away some kind of paper.

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

Almost every (Gryfindor) hand in the room shot up. Everyone knew this. I lowered my eyes: The Unforgivable Curses. I knew about the Unforgivable Curses. Slowly, I propped my head up on my elbow, engulfed in thought, remembering...

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"Eleanor!" My father viciously yelled, tightly grabbing my wrist. "Stop lingering!"

"But Daddy-" A sharp slap stung against my small, five year old face.

"You DO NOT call me that!" I reached up and touched my cheek with the hand that wasn't in his grip.

"I'm sorry, father...'

"No you're not! If you were, you wouldn't have called me that in the first place!"

"I"m sorry..." A stream of warm tears started falling down my checks.

"Shut up-" I held back a sob as he quickly glanced behind us and cursed. "I don't think we lost them." He murmured to himself.

"Father-"

"Shut up!" He said, "They're close!" I immediately went quiet. He cursed again and Disapparated. A second later I found myself on the ground in the middle of an isolated field of overgrown weeds.

"Your foolishness almost got us caught!"

"Father-" I started to get up, but he kicked me in the ribs, making me fall back over.

"Shut up! It was your inability to keep your mouth shut and follow me that caused this!"

"I'm sorry father! I want to go back home!"

"We have no home. They can find us there...stupid girl!"

"Yes we do! With beds and a piano-"

"Shut up! He kicked me again and I rolled over in agony. "We have no use for that, besides, they found it. We have to wait at least a couple months before returning there. All because you had to scream!" Complete and utter disgust dripped from his angry voice. He took his wand out and pointed the tip straight at me. I closed my eyes. When I found myself in this situation I knew to expect pain.

"Avada Ke-" He stopped himself. After a short pause, he spoke again, "If it wasn't for her...why did I promise her?.... Crucio!"

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"Elle!" Vincent whispered and then snapped in front of my face.

"Huh!" I blinked a couple times, remembering that I was in the middle of Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

"Elle, Moody is finished talking. He wants us to take notes."

"What?"

"From the book. He wants us to take notes from the book."

"Oh, Okay..." I pulled my book out from my satchel and opened up to the same page as Vince was on.

The Cruciatus Curse is a powerful curse that grips the victim in complete and total agony...

I put down my quill, calling the pain I knew first hand.

"Elle?" Vince said again, making me look up.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just..." I thought up a lie, quick. "I- I don't feel well." And before anyone could question me, I ran out the door.