To my surprise, Professor Moody announces that he will be putting the Imperius Curse on each of us in turn. He wants to demonstrate its power and to see whether we can resist its effects.
"You can't do this to us. It's illegal. My father will hear about it if you do. He's good friends with the Minister for Magic," I protest. "Dumbledore wants you taught what it feels like. If you'd rather learn the hard way - when someone's putting it on you so they can control you completely - fine by me. You're excused. Off you go," Moody says.
I don't waste any time and make my way out of the class. I don't care if my father hears about this and gets mad at me. I don't want someone controlling me. Especially Moody. After he turned me into a ferret, I can't be too careful with him. That was humiliating enough and I wasn't under the Imperius curse then. Or maybe I was. How else would he have been able to control me?
***
The teachers start piling on more work. Even in Care of Magical Creatures. The Blast-Ended Skrewts are growing at a remarkable pace, given that nobody has yet discovered what they eat.
As part of our 'project', it's suggested that we come down to his hut on alternate evenings to observe the Skrewts and make notes on their extraordinary behaviour. "I will not," I say flatly. "I see enough of these foul things during lessons, thanks."
"Yeh'll do wha' yer told," Hagrid growls, "or I'll be takin' a leaf outta Professor Moody's book...I hear yeh made a good ferret, Malfoy.
The memory of being turned into a ferret is still too fresh in my mind and prevents me from retorting.
When I arrive in the Entrance Hall after class, everyone's milling around a large sign at the foot of the marble staircase.
Triwizard Tournament
The delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving at 6 o'clock on Friday 30th of October. Lessons will end half an hour early. Students will return their bags and books to their dormitories and assemble in front of the castle to greet our guests before the Welcoming Feast.
It's been almost two months since arriving back to Hogwarts and other than glances in Care of Magical Creatures, Herbology and Arithmancy, Allison and I haven't shared a conversation since the night of The Dark Mark. I decide that I'll visit the back of the library after dinner tomorrow night. Maybe she'll be there, maybe she won't. There's only one way to find out.
***
After dinner, I tell my friends I'll meet them in the common room later. I make my way to the library, trying my best to go unseen.
When I reach the back of the library, Allison is there, her back turned to me, copying notes from her textbook, her quill flying furiously across the parchment. She seems to hear me approach because she turns and looks at me. She jumps out of the chair, rushing over to me, but stopping at the last second with hesitation. She takes a step backwards and a blush creeps up her cheeks. "Ummm...hi, she says. "Hey, Ravenclaw," I reply.
"Well, come and sit. We probably have a lot to catch up on," she smiles. She moves back to where she was sitting before and I pull out a chair next to her.
I don't understand why I was so mean to her before. Just being in her presence, her easy demeanour and her smile makes me feel lighter.
"I never got to properly thank you for saving me that night," she says. "It's nothing," I say.
"It's not nothing. Without you I would've -" she breaks off. "You would've what?" I ask her. "Nothing," she answers, shaking her head. I decide to not push her on it.
"Anyways, how has everything been since the World Cup?" she asks me. I sigh, unsure what to tell her and what to leave out. "Nothing too exciting," I decide to say, "mostly just reading The Daily Prophet."
"What about you?" I ask. She shakes her head. "Nothing much. We made bets on what Harry is going to get up to this year. It's an annual Ravenclaw tradition," she says.
"What did you bet?" I ask. "Five galleons, he enters the Triwizard Tournament and succeeds at becoming a Champion," she replies. "Nice," I say.
"Are you okay?" she questions. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" I counter. Did she witness my father pushing me with his cane through Diagon Alley?
She gestures to me with her hand. "I mean, you were turned into a ferret," she says. I let out a sigh of relief, but wince at the memory.
I expect her to tell me off, like she did when I provoked the Hippogriff last year, but that's not what she says. "You shouldn't have tried to curse Harry behind his back and you definitely shouldn't have said the things you did," she starts, staring at me pointedly. "But I don't think what Mad-Eye did was right either. Turning a student into an animal like that. It's not justifiable." She shakes her head. "Besides, you could've been seriously hurt. The way he was bouncing you up and down like that. Ferrets' bodies aren't built to handle that sort of thing," she finishes.
"You care about whether I get hurt or not, Ravenclaw?" I ask her, surprised. "Of course I do. You could've run to the woods without grabbing me and I would've never known. But you did grab me. You saved me," she answers.
No one's ever cared about me getting hurt before, only my mother, but she's also too frightened of my father to leave him. The countless times he's attempted to hurt me in front of my mother springs to mind, all the times she's jumped in front of him and taken the blow herself.
"They wouldn't have hurt you," is what I say, knowing what my father told me. They were only after muggles. "You don't know that," she says.
Then, she puts her smile on again and says, "Now, the real question at hand. What are we going to do with these Blast-Ended Skrewts? I'm not sure I can last much longer without getting stung or burned."