"Silence, please. Today's lesson will be on the Unforgivable Curses."
The Marauders exchanged glances and leaned forward in their seats, eager to hear about the subject that , hopefully, would tell hem a little more about their mysterious defence teacher.
"The three Unforgivable Curses are commonly associated with a dark wizard, and for good reason, seeing as I don't see how any decent person would commit at least one of them. The other two... well, let's just say that sometimes they're necessary. But the less said about that, the better. Can anyone name me one?"
Sirius raised a hand. Remus and James did a double take-Sirius never but up his hand in class, it was one of his many principals. Professor Potter, however, appeared to be not even slightly surprised.
"Mr Black?"
Sirius glanced around uneasily, now feeling awkward. He spoke quietly,
"The Imperius curse, sir."
"Thankyou. Five points to Gryffindor. The Imperius is the curse that allows the caster to control their victim's actions. The strangest thing about the curse is that you do not suffer if it is cast upon you. It is in fact, ignorant bliss. You want to do it, because while under the Imperius curse, you haven't a care in the world."
He allowed this to sink it before continuing.
"But somewhere, in the back of your mind, there is always a voice questioning the command. A voice that says ' Why should I do that? Listen to that voice. It may be the only thing stopping you from murdering the innocent. It may be the thing standing between you and death. The curse is not unstoppable, and all you must do is say 'no' to bliss. Repeat after me, no."
The students looked nonplussed, but chanted
"No."
The Professor gave a humourless smile.
"It's an easy thing to say, isn't it? Not so easy when you're under the Imperius curse. But you can do it. You can do it."
Silence followed the last statement. The students had always assumed that you just zoned out under the Imperius curse, felt nothing. But happiness, weak-minded bliss, seemed far scarier. James shivered, imagining blithely obeying a voice that told you to kill your own family.
"So," Potter continued cheerfully, "What are the other two curses. Yes, Mr Lupin?"
Remus bit his lip.
"Cruciatus."
Harry nodded. "The Pain Curse. The Cruciatus, in my opinion, is the worst of the Unforgivables. When you are hit by the killing curse, you feel no pain. But with the Cruciatus, the pain seems to go on forever. Quite definately the most unpleasent thing I have ever felt."
He looked each student straight in the eye.
"I told you last lesson that I would not sugar coat anything. I was telling the truth. As seventeen year olds growing up amidst a war, I believe you to be perfectly capable of handling what I am about to tell you. You are not children, and no longer need to be protected from the big bad world. Someone once believed theirself to be protecting me, but because of that so-called protection, a loved one was killed. I learned from that mistake, and have no intention of lying to hold onto innocence. Live it while you can, but one cannot deny the inevitable loss of such. I will tell you now that the Cruciatus curse gives pain that you cannot even begin to comprehend. The physical agony leaves you wishing you could die, just to end the pain, to end the suffering. I would so wish that none of you would ever have to experience such pain."
Sirius frowned at this odd way of putting it. Why hadn't he just said 'I hope you never experience it?' Why play around with the words in an apperently simple statement?
However, through his musing, Sirius was sure that for just a second, the Professor's eyes had rested on Alice Bones and Frank Longbottom. The look was so brief that he might well have imagined it, but whenever he replayed the scene in his head, he saw his teacher looking sadly at Frank and Alice, as though he knew that their innocence, as he had previously mentioned, would be lost, and lost forever.
The Professor's voice became superficially brisk as he said, "Does anyone know the final Unforgivable?"
Lily Evans raised her hand, which, very close up, Alice could see was trembling.
"Avada Kedavra," she whispered, her eyes wide with fear.
Harry looked at her piercingly before continuing. "That's right, Avada Kevadra. The Killing Curse."
A murmur went through the class. The Professor's eyes bored into each and every sudent.
"I'm assuming you all know what the curse entails?"
A nod of assent answered his question. In an expressionless voice, he said
"And I suppose you're all more interested in finding out how I survived it?" Another nod.
Harry heaved a heavy sigh.
"I suppose I'll have to tell you, then."
_._._._._._._
"What I am about to tell you is in strict confidence. I believe you all to be trustworthy, but if I am proven wrong, then you will have to duel Ginny and myself at the same time for three hours."
The class gulped. Ginny gave them a sweet smile. Harry grinned at her, but the smile vanished as he looked around the class, making eye contact with each and every student. A few broke the gaze, but the Marauders and Lily and her friends stared back. The Professor started speaking, his voice low and intense.
"When I was one year old, Voldemort came to my home with the intention of killing me, for reasons I am unable to share with you. He murdered my father as he tried to protect me and my mother. He died bravely, trying to hold him off. He then proceeded into my nursery, where my mother stood to protect me. He ordered her to stand aside, and she defied him. She was my shield, and he murdered her."
His voice cracked slightly on the word 'murdered', and he paused, and passing a hand briefly over his eyes. Ginny stood up, and placed one hand on his shoulder. He took a deep breath, and continued.
"The shield that saved me from his killing curse was wrought of a mother's love. This is the most ancient kind of magic possible, where she laid down her life to...to protect me. I was unaffected by the curse, save this scar."
He pushed back his fringe to reveal the bolt on his forehead.
Sirius knew that this time he wasn't imagining it, his teachers eyes were definately lingering on Lily Evans, as they had on Frank and Alice when he'd spoke about the Cruciatus curse.
"Because of that curse, I retained some of Voldemort's powers, such as my ability to speak Parseltongue."
The few who had not heard of this already gasped, and Harry gave a faint smile.
"Oh yes, meet my companion, Ciad."
The emerald snake slithered up from inside the sleeve of his robes and gave a soft hiss. Harry seemed to find this funny, and hissed in agreement, earning a few more gasps. Alice raised a trembling hand.
"What did he say, sir?"
"She. She said that you where all gawping like a bunch of gormless idiots, and I was inclined to agree with her. Close your mouth please, Mr Black."
The class gave a nervous titter, and Harry frowned.
"For Gods Sake, don't start acting all nervous around me. If you all do your homework on time I promise I won't set Ciad on you."
A more confident laugh followed his last statement, and he sat back on his desk looking considerably more relaxed than he had. He allowed them to murmur amongst themselves for a few moments, then asked "Any questions?"
Lily put up her hand tentatively.
"Miss Evans?"
Lily chewed her lip, looking nervous.
"Sir, what happened to You-Know-Who?"
Professor Potter held her gaze steadily.
"No, Miss Evans, I do not know who. I will know who if you refer to him by his true name, or better yet, the name he was born with. Tom Riddle." he gave a slightly bitter smile, "It really bugs him when you use it."
The class found it somewhat strange that anyone would intentionally bug Voldemort. Lily bit her lip again.
"What happened to...Tom?"
James looked at her sharply, knowing that she'd never even been able to bring herself to even say his name before, let alone the name he hated.
Professor Potter's eyes grew distant. "He was injured, and he fled. He lay low for a while, gave himself time to heal. But as you can see now, he is very much here now."
His shoulders slumped, and he realised that Ginny's hand was still on them.
"That concludes our lesson. Research ancient magic protection shields and notes on all three Unforgivables. Scram."
The class burst into motion, seemingly desperate to leave, not so much in fear of their teacher, but just needing to think about what had happened. Lily hastily shoved her equipment in her bag, not bothering to zip it properly. She made it out into the corridor, but then her bag split. Overwhelmed by the lesson, and confused by the looks given her by her teacher, found tears running down her face. James came out into the corridor, and crouched beside her, helping her to pick up the books, ink bottles and quills that she was making no real effort to pick up.
"Lily? Are you OK?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just dropped my stuff."
James looked at her sceptically.
"Who're you kidding, Lily? What's up?"
He reached out and brushed away a tear running down her face. She hardly seemed to notice.
"It's just, I keep imagining his mother. I'd never be able to do that. I can't believe that anyone could really love anyone that much."
Her arms filled with ink stained books, and her fiery hair tumbling down from its barrette, she stood up abruptly and left.
"Can't you?" James muttered, looking at her retreating back with an odd expression in her eyes.
_._._._._._._
"Are you OK?"
Ginny wrapped her arms round Harry's waist and laid her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes. Harry found himself strangely relaxed, and turned, putting his arms around her, her long hair tickling his ear. He sighed.
"It's God awful, to be honest. Telling them their fates. Frank and Alice, James, and oh god, my mum. She was crying, did you see? She thought I was talking about someone she'd never met and she was crying."
He looked into Ginny's deep brown eyes and felt a lump in his throat.
"Three years, Ginny. That's all. Three years and shit, they look so young."
He let go of Ginny and pressed his palms to his forehead, messy black head bowed.
Ginny pulled him down next to her on his desk and forced him to look at her.
"They were young Harry, sure. But just look at James looking at Lily. He loves her, and when she stops being afraid she'll open her eyes and see. They loved you Harry, and I know sure as hell that they'd die for you a thousand times over."
Harry lifted his head from his hands.
"Thanks, Gin. You're a friend."
As promised a really long chapter.
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Firefly15