This poor girl is not able to
express herself. Like the rubber
bangles which cannot make sound
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
"How can I miss Malfoy turning into a ferret?!" Willow whined as she listened to Harry. "Wish I wasn't food poisoned," she muttered. Due to food poisoning, Willow couldn't attend the first two days of her fourth year.
The students were waiting for their first DADA class as Willow was seated between Harry and Ron.
“I reckon Snape’s a bit scared of him, you know,” Harry said
thoughtfully.
“Imagine if Moody turned Snape into a horned toad,” said Ron,
his eyes misting over as Willow laughed, “and bounced him all around his dungeon. . . .” Suddenly, Hermione entered the classroom as she breathed heavily. She looked around in search of her friends as Willow raised her hands. Soon, Hermione sat beside Ron.
Soon, they heard Moody’s distinctive clunking footsteps coming down the corridor, and he entered the room, looking as strange and frightening as ever. “You can put those away,” he growled, stumping over to his desk and sitting down, “those books. You won’t need them.”
They returned the books to their bags, Ron looking excited as he looked at Hermione, who had a frown on her face.
"Look at 'mione," He whispered to Willow, who stuffled her smile.
"She must be cursing him in her mind," Willow said as Ron agreed to her.
“I’ve had a letter from Professor Lupin about this
class. Seems you’ve had a pretty thorough grounding in tackling
Dark creatures — you’ve covered boggarts, Red Caps, hinkypunks, grindylows, Kappas, and werewolves, is that right?”
There was a general murmur of assent.
“But you’re behind — very behind — on dealing with curses,”
said Moody. “So I’m here to bring you up to scratch on what wiz-
ards can do to each other. I’ve got one year to teach you how to deal with Dark —”
“What, aren’t you staying?” Ron blurted out. Willow pinched his thigh as Ron winced slightly. Seeing this, Harry chuckled as he covered her mouth esoterically using her hand.
“You’ll be Arthur Weasley’s son, eh?” Moody said. “Your father
got me out of a very tight corner a few days ago. . . . Yeah, I’m staying just one year. Special favor to Dumbledore. . . . One year, and then back to my quiet retirement.”
He gave a harsh laugh and then clapped his gnarled hands
together.
“So — straight into it. Curses. They come in . . ." Which Willow didn't bother to listen. She randomly doodled in her notebook as she pretended to take notes.
"Stop doodling, Ms. Lupin, " she flinched as she looked up to meet Moody’s cold eyes. Willow immediately kept her quill down and listened to him reluctantly.
“So . . . do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by wizarding law?”
"Imperio curse," Willow answered as Moody nodded his head in acknowledgment. "That's very much right, Ms. Lupin. Your father must've taught you that" she smiled awkwardly and lowered her head.
Well, that was true.
Moody got heavily to his mismatched feet, opened his desk
drawer, and took out a glass jar. Three large black spiders were scuttling around inside it. Harry felt Ron recoil slightly next to him — Ron hated spiders. Oh, Willow was enjoying it thoroughly.
The spider jumped around and did some funny stunts to which Willow laughed. But the true reason was that her best friend was shuddering each and every time the spider came a bit forward.
“The Imperius Curse can be fought, and I’ll be teaching you how, but it takes real strength of character, and not everyone’s got it. Better avoid being hit with it if you can. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!” he barked, and everyone jumped.
Moody picked up the somersaulting spider and threw it back
into the jar.
“Anyone else know one? Another illegal curse?”
Neville raised his hand slowly as Willow smiled in an amusing way. She felt happy that Neville was interacting.
“Yes?” said Moody, his magical eye rolling right over to fix on
Neville.
“There’s one — the Cruciatus Curse,” said Neville in a small but
distinct voice.
“The Cruciatus Curse,” said Moody. “Needs to be a bit bigger
for you to get the idea,” he said, pointing his wand at the spider.
“Engorgio!”
The spider swelled. It was now larger than a tarantula. Ron pushed his chair back and sat far from Moody.
“Crucio!” The spider started twisting around as if it was suffering from pain. Willow's smile faded in discomfort as she saw the spider struggling. She clenched her fist and lowered her gaze. Suddenly, she felt a warm hand above her own. Willow looked aside to see Harry, who gave her an assuring nod and mouthed, "Don't look up until I say so."
Willow immediately obeyed him as she looked down.
“Stop it!” Hermione said shrilly.
“Reducio,” Moody muttered, and the spider shrank back to its
proper size. He put it back into the jar. Harry squeezed her hand as Willow nodded slowly and looked up
“Pain,” said Moody softly. “You don’t need thumbscrews or
knives to torture someone if you can perform the Cruciatus
Curse. . . . That one was very popular once, too. Right . . . Does anyone know any others?”
Willow's eyes widened as she saw people being uneasy.
“Avada Kedavra,” Hermione whispered.
Several people looked uneasily around at her, including Ron.
“Ah,” said Moody, another slight smile twisting his lopsided
mouth. “Yes, the last and worst. Avada Kedavra . . . the Killing
Curse.”
Moody raised his wand, as Harry shifted uncomfortably this time. Willow held his hand in a supportive way as he caressed his hand using her thumb.
He's so cold!
“Avada Kedavra!” Moody roared.
Several of the students stifled cries; Ron had thrown himself backward and almost toppled off his seat as the spider skidded toward him.
Moody swept the dead spider off the desk onto the floor. “Not nice,” he said calmly. “Not pleasant. And there’s no countercurse. There’s no blocking it. Only one known person has ever survived it, and he’s sitting right in front of me.”
━。゜✿ฺ✿ฺ゜。━
The common room was silent when Willow entered after having her dinner with Fred and George, who dragged her away from her friends.
She looked around and saw Harry sitting in front of the fireplace. Willow heaved a sigh as she went and sat beside him without making any sound.
"Hey, Will," Harry greeted her, with his eyes fixed on the fire. Willow smiled as she pulled her hair up in a messy bun. Once she was done with that, she looked aside to see Harry look at her and swallowed his saliva harshly.
"What's wrong, Harry?" She asked as Harry immediately shook his head and let out an awkward smile.
"Come on, what's the matter?" She insisted as Harry heaved a sighmof defeat.
"How do you know that I'm not feeling good?" He asked surprisingly. Willow chuckled at his question.
"Because I know you, Harry." The answer was simple, but that made Harry's heart warm as he smiled softly.
"You see, when Moody used the last spell... I can only think of my parents, Will... I couldn't take that away from my mind and Voldemort... I've been getting frequent nightmare these days, Will.... it's disturbing me. I saw Pettigrew, Voldemort, and a few people... a snake..." Willow looked at his disturbing face as she kept her hand above his hand.
"What are you gonna do about it?" She asked curiously.
"Honestly, I have no fucking idea" Harry said as he let out a harsh chuckle and ran a hand through his messy hair. Somehow, Willow found it hot.
Stop it, you stupid brain!
"Harry, I know that you'll find some idea about it" she said as Harry raised an eyebrow and stared at her.
"Yeah? How can you say that?"
"Because you have me" she blurted out and regretted immediately. " well, you've got Ron, Hermione and me" she justified herself as Harry chuckled at her goofiness.
"That's a brilliant excuse" he said and rubbed her hand using his thumb softly which made Willow's breath to hitch.
"Willow... I want to say something, " he said as he faced her. Her heart started to race faster as Willow nodded her head.
"Well, I don't know how to put it in words... I've never said this to anyone..." Harry said with an awkward chuckle. Was he going to confess that he, too, likes her? Oh, that would be a jackpot!
"Come on, don't be shy, Potter," she teased him as Harry chuckled softly and stared at her eyes. A nervous smile was evident in her lips as he raised her eyebrows, indicating him to talk.
"I..." he started as his ears became red. Willow wanted to laugh, but she controlled herself and waited for him.
"I like Cho,"
The smile that was plastered in her lips faded as she felt a pang in her chest.
"What?" She asked again to check whether she'd misheard him. Harry looked down shyly as he let go of her hand, which made Willow feel the coldness for the first time.
"Yeah, I like her," he said and stared and waited for her reply. Willow was too stunned to speak. She wasn't the girl Harry likes. It was Cho Chang, their senior. Willow wanted to storm off and cry her eyes out. She controlled herself and forced a smile.
"Wow? Didn't know that you have a heart, Harry, " she joked as Harry slapped her arm playfully. Willow felt so lame of herself to think that he might fall for her. She chuckled and lowered her head when she felt a lump forming in her throat. She wanted to free herself from that room.
"I hope she'll like you back, Harry," Willow said as she got up and dusted her pants. Harry frowned immediately.
"Why are you leaving?"
"Oh, I'm tired... I need some sleep. Goodnight, Harry, " she said and rushed to girls dorm, without giving him a single glance. As soon as she entered her room, Willow saw Hermione doing her homework while others were sleeping.
Hermione looked at Willow and smiled, but that smile faded when she analyzed Willow's expression. She frowned and kept her books aside, and before she could say anything, Willow ran as she embraced Hermione and started sobbing.
Hermione immediately hugged her back with furrowed eyebrows.
"Hey, what's wrong, Will? Did anyone hurt you?" She asked genuinely.
"I like Harry...." she whispered while hugging.
"I know that," Hermione replied and patted her back softly.
"But... he likes someone, Hermy. " Hermione's heart ached as she hugged Willow even tighter and caressed her hair.
"I feel like a fool... all these days, I thought he had feelings for me... but it wasn't me, Hermy... it will never be me.."Willow wiped her running nose and buried her face to Hermione's shoulder.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
A/n
Oops.