Through the Dark (Draco Malfoy x OC)

Chapter Six

"There," Nott awkwardly pointed on Daphne's cheek. She reached up with her jewelled fingers to rub it. "No," he blushed a faint red and shuffled in his seat before flicking the eyelash off her cheek for her. Her lips twisted as she fought a smile and nodded at him appreciatively.

"Thanks," her voice barely made a sound.

We were sitting in Defence Against the Dark Arts. Daphne to my left, Nott and Blaise at the desk in front of us with Payton and Faye behind us. Mad Eye Moody had not entered the room yet, but all students were accounted for. Weird contraptions decked the room that I could only assume were added by Moody. It had my brain dreaming up all sorts of bizarre situations as I wondered what class would involve today. The door then opened with a wham, his burly legs knocking against the ground as he limped. An eerie semblance started to coat us as he hunkered to the front, studying each student closely with a grovel.

"Alastor Moody," his thick accent curled and he turned to scribble on the black board. "Ex-Auror, Ministry malcontent and your new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher." I heard Daphne gulp hard, it was never her best subject, now she had no chance if she was afraid of her teacher. "I am here because Dumbledore asked me. End of story, goodbye, the end. Any questions?"

Silence.

He started to move around the front of the class, assessing each of us shrunken into our seats. "When it comes to the dark arts I believe in a practical approach," an insane expression grew on his face and the reasoning behind his name became very apparent to me. "But first, which of you can tell me how many unforgivable curses there are?"

My brows lifted in surprise. Was this part of the school curriculum?

"Three, sir." Hermione politely answered.

"And they are so named?" He turned to scribble on the chalkboard again.

"Because they are unforgivable... the use of any one of them will-" She struggled out.

"Earn you a one way ticket to az-ka-ban." He turned at us fiercely. "Now the Ministry says you're too young to see what these curses do - I say different!" He growled making most of us flinch. Ah, so this was not part of the school curriculum. "You need to know what you're up against! You need to be prepared!" He returned to the blackboard, "you need to find somewhere else to put your chewing gum beside the underside of your desk Mr. Finnigan!!"

All eyes turned to Seamus in shock and he mumbled something to Dean beside him. "I hear across classrooms!!" He shouted and threw his chalk at him before stepping closer to us. "So, which first shall we see first?"

Eyes started bouncing wildy across the class, everyone beckoning others to respond so they didn't have too. Daphne's big brown eyes looked at me petrified and I petted my hand on her's briefly in comfort. Another gulp audibly pushed it's way down her throat.

"Weasley," he shouted and a shaken Ron yelped in surprise. "Stand." He did as ordered. "Give us a curse."

"My dad did tell me about one, the Imperius Curse?"

Moody nodded fervently, muttering something to Ron and retreating back to the front. He spoke briefly on the grief the Imperius Curse caused in the past and announced he would show us. A giant spider was lifted out of a jar and into his hand. He enlarged it and turned to us so we could all see.

"Imperio," he grunted and the spider shook, obviously struggling against a force. Then, with the flick of his wand, he paraded it around the classroom against its will. Laughter erupted as we watched him scare several students with it. He made it crawl up Longbottom's arm, dance on Ron's head and even threw it onto Malfoy's face. "What should I have her do next?" He cackled. "Jump out the window? Drown herself?" The reality of the curse became clear and the laughter filtered into silence. Many wore a look of shame for making a joke of it and some, particularly Hermione, looked angered.

"Scores of witches and wizards have claimed they only did You-Know-Who's bidding under the Imperius curse." He looked at me with both his real and magical eye. An alarm went off internally as I felt my cheeks redden and my breathing fasten. It seemed Moody was not going to be tender on the topic of him unlike my previous Professors. I shared a look with Malfoy who had turned to look at me. Our parents had been forced to do some unforgivable work under the Imperius curse in the past. Dread plagued my emotions as my mind delved further into how horrific that experience must have been for Lydia and Ezra.

"But here's the rub, how do we sort out the liars?" He encouraged answers until Longbottom raised his hand. "Longbottom, is it?"

"There is the Cruciatus Curse." He stuttered out.

"Correct! Correct! Come," he beckoned and Longbottom joined him at the front. "Particularly nasty, the torture curse." He performed the spell, much to Longbottom's discomfort. The whole class winced at the sight until Hermione's desperate voice broke the air.

"Stop it! Can't you see it's bothering him?! Stop it!"

Moody snapped out of whatever trance he had fallen into and gradually strided to Hermione's desk, placing the poor spider in front of her. "Perhaps you could give us the last unforgivable curse, Miss Granger?"

She shook her head and almost appeared close to tears.

"Avada Kadavra," Moody struck at the spider and it fell limp. "The Killing Curse. Only one person is known to have survived it and he's sitting in this room." Moody hobbled to stand in front of Harry. His eyes then flicked back to me and my body automatically shrunk away. Perhaps he was curious about my stance on dark magic. He was an ex-auror after all so I understood if he felt cautious of who I was due to my ancestry. To be honest, if any of my ancestors were alive today, I would most likely be the most disappointing Slytherin to them. Sure, I was sorted into Salazar's House, but Pansy always told me to stop hiding like a Hufflepuff. I could recall her screaming I was a failure to my heritage in second year for showing signs of compassion towards the petrified Muggle borns.