"Good day," said the misty voice of Professor Trelawney right behind Harry, Ron and I, making both of us jump as we entered the Divination tower. Harry and Ron scurried to a table, leaving me alone. I let out a small huff, and Harry gave me a guilty smile as I crossed my arms. Not having Hermione in divination was going to be rough.
"Jove!" A voice whispered from the table next to them. My eyes darted over, and I saw the familiar face of the girl I met in London, Naomi Kaur.
Naomi Kaur is one of the most charming people I've ever met. With her striking dark hair, often styled elegantly, and large captivating eyes, she simply exuded confidence and charisma. Just being around her made me feel better about myself, only because of the sheer positivity she put out. I sat in the seat next to her, my back to Harry.
"You are preoccupied, my dear," Professor Trelawney said mournfully to Harry. "My inner eye sees past your brave face to the troubled soul within. And I regret to say that your worries are not baseless. I see difficult times ahead for you, alas, most difficult... I fear the thing you dread will indeed come to pass and perhaps sooner than you think."
Her voice dropped almost to a whisper. Professor Trelawney swept past them and seated herself in a large winged armchair before the fire, facing the class. Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, who deeply admired Professor Trelawney, were sitting on poufs very close to her.
"My dears, it is time for us to consider the stars," she said. "The movements of the planets and the mysterious portents they reveal only to those who understand the steps of the celestial dance. Human destiny may be deciphered by the planetary rays, which intermingle within the stars that lay beneath our very minds. And well, my dear, it is obvious that you were born under the baleful influence of Saturn, yes?" She looked at Harry, who didn't seem to be paying any attention at all as he stared off behind her, his chin resting in his hand comfortably.
"Harry!" Ron muttered.
"What?"
"I was saying, my dear, that you were clearly born under the baleful influence of Saturn," said Professor Trelawney, a faint note of resentment in her voice at the fact that he had obviously not been hanging on her words.
"Born under — what, sorry?" Harry asked.
"Saturn, dear, the planet Saturn!" said Professor Trelawney, sounding definitely irritated that he wasn't riveted by this news.
"I was saying that Saturn was surely in a position of power in the heavens at the moment of your birth... Your dark hair.. your mean stature... tragic losses so young in life... I think I am right in saying, my dear, that you were born in midwinter?"
"No," Harry said blankly, "I was born in July."
Ron hastily turned his laugh into a hacking cough.
"Voldemort's birthday is in midwinter, she probably just got you mixed up." I whispered to Harry, leaning back slightly so our faces were closer.
"Are you calling me Voldemort, Black?" He muttered with a bit of laughter.
"What if I am?" I shrugged, biting my bottom lip so that I wouldn't showcase my smile to the whole class.
"Why do you even know that?" He laughed quietly as he leaned even far backwards. His back was pressing against mine, and he was using me for support to lean back on his pouf.
"Did you forget? Seriously? He's in my head." I said, and Naomi's unfocused eyes quickly shot over to me.
"Who's in your head?" She asked, a disturbed, yet amused smile on her face.
"Just the voices." I shrugged casually as I sat normally without warning. Harry fell backwards off of his pouf, and onto the floor.
Everyone looked over to Harry, whose face flushed red as he hurried back onto his pouf and Professor Trelawney handed out the very dull yet complicated birth chart timetable homework.
"Oh Professor, look! I think I've got an unaspected planet!" Parvati gasped, about half an hour later.
"Oooh, which one's that, Professor?" Lavender asked, and Professor Trelawney hurried over to their table, her several bracelets and bangles clanging loudly as she walked.
"It is Uranus, my dear," Professor Trelawney said, peering down at the chart.
"Can I have a look at Uranus too, Lavender?" Ron joked, causing an uproar of laughter to fill the room.
"I want a detailed analysis of the way the planetary movements in the coming month will affect you, with reference to your personal chart," Professor Trelawney snapped, sounding much more like Professor McGonagall than her usual airy-fairy self. "I want it ready to hand in next Monday, and no excuses!"
"Miserable old bat," Ron snarled bitterly as we joined the crowds descending the staircases back to the Great Hall and dinner, and I waved goodbye to Naomi, who was parting ways to sit with her friends, one of which I recognized as Christina Farraway. "That'll take all weekend, that will..."
"Lots of homework?" Hermione asked brightly, catching up with us. "Professor Vector didn't give us any at all!"
"Well, bully for Professor Vector," Ron grumbled.
-
"Alastor Moody." Professor Moody said, standing at the front of the class with his hands firmly hidden behind his back. He turned to the chalkboard behind him and scrubbed the name 'Moody.' "Ex-Auror... Ministry malcontent... and your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I am here because Dumbledore asked me, end of story, goodbye, the end. Any questions?"
He stared out at the class, and none of us dared to speak a word.
"When it comes to the Dark Arts... I believe in a practical approach." Moody said with a slight smirk. "But first, which of you can tell me how many unforgivable curses there are?"
"Three, sir." Hermione said shakily, still weary of the extremely tense atmosphere.
"And they are so named?" Moody asked, nodding in approval.
"Because they are unforgivable." Hermione answered. "The use of any of them will-"
"Earn you a one way ticket to Azkaban, correct." He said as he wrote the word 'unforgivable' on the chalkboard, then turned back to us, his blue eye whizzing around. "Now, the ministry says you're too young to see what these curses do. I say different! You need to know what you're up against! You need to be prepared!" Moody yelled as he faced the board again. "You need to find another place to put your chewing gum besides the underside of your desk, Mr. Finnegan!"
"Ah, no way." Seamus muttered, and the whole class turned to face him. "The old codger can see out the back of his head."
Moody quickly turned and threw his piece of chalk at Seamus. "And hear across classrooms!"
"So, which curse shall we see first?" Moody asked, his voice lowering to a dramatic whisper, then back up again as he barked, "WEASLEY?"
"Yes?" Ron asked, quickly looking up at the Professor in terror.
"Stand!" He ordered, and Ron immediately followed. "Give us a curse."
"Well... my dad did tell me about one." Ron muttered, not making eye contact with Moody as he stood. "The Imperius curse."
"Oh, yeah, your father would know all about that. Gave the Ministry quite a bit of grief a few years ago. Perhaps this will show you why." Moody sighed as he lifted the cap off of a jar on his desk and pulled out a spider. "Engorgio."
The spider grew twice it's size in his hand.
"Imperio!"
He pointed his wand at Dean and Neville's table, and the spider went flying towards them as it clung to the wand's every move.
It suddenly flung at Crabbe and landed on his face.
"Don't worry, it's completely harmless!" Moody reassured him as he laughed manically and moved the spider over Ron's ginger head. He made the spider's legs tap repeatedly on his hair, and Ron whimpered.
"What're you laughing at?" Moody scowled, and shot the spider at Draco. It clung to the center of his face, and Draco's mocking laughter quickly halted as he commanded Goyle to 'get it off!' Harry clapped his hands as he watched Draco whine.
"What should I have her do next? Jump out the window?" He flung the spider at the glass pane, and let it smack lightly, then moved it over a bucket of water. "Drown herself?"
The spider squirmed helplessly.
Moody lifted it back into his hand. "Scores of witches and wizards have claimed that they only did You-Know-Who's bidding under the influence of the Imperius curse."
Bellatrix had plead 'not guilty' with that reasoning, and the Ministry was stupid enough to believe her.
"But here's the rub. How do we sort out the liars? Another, another." Moody beckoned for another curse. I raised my hand slightly.
"Cruciatus curse." I said. Both of Moody's eyes shot to me, and the normal one practically lit up when it landed on me.
"Ah, yes. Black, you would know all about the Cruciatus curse, wouldn't you?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" I scoffed, forgetting just who I was talking to. Moody placed both of his hands on my table and got scarily close to me.
"You lived with the Lestrange's, yes?" He asked, his blue eye buzzing around.
"Yes." I nodded quietly.
"Then I suspect you've felt it first hand." He grumbled, then moved back to the front of the room. Everything fell oddly silent, and I kept my eyes focused on the chalkboard in front of me. My heart pounded inside of my throat as I fought back the tears that were willing inside my eyes.
"The torture curse." Moody continued, and I felt everyone's eyes on me instead of him. "Crucio!"
I flinched at the incantation. The spider began to squeal in pain as it jerked around on his desk, begging for him to put an end to the pain.
I saw myself in the spider, and it only made me more angry. I remembered myself for the first time, around seven or eight, getting reprimanded for asking who the burned hole in the tapestry above our fireplace was. I knew now that it was Sirius, and I knew why she did it, but at the time, I was dragged into my room by my mother, confused and scared. I hadn't known what I'd done, but the question quickly left my mind as she yelled the incantation.
The pain of the Cruciatus curse was like no other. It felt as if every nerve in your body had been set on fire, then tied into a knot and broken apart.
"Stop it!" Hermione and I both yelled as we stood up from our table. I felt my hands shaking with fury and fear, my wand clutched tightly within my left.
We both fell back into our seats as we heard crying coming from the table in front of us. Neville had his face buried in the desk as he covered his ears.
"Perhaps you could give us the last unforgivable curse, Miss Granger." He said, placing the struggling spider on top of her books. I was incredibly grateful that he decided to leave me alone. I kept my eyes forward, not able to look at the spider as I heard its slight whimpers of the remaining pain.
Hermione shook her head as tears built in her eyes and her lip trembled.
"No?" Moody sighed, then pointed his wand at the spider. "Avada Kedavra!"
A brilliant burst of green light accompanied by a swift, rushing noise, akin to a massive, unseen entity hurtling through the air. Instantaneously, the spider rolled over onto its back, unmarked, but unmistakably dead.
Moody swept the dead spider off her books and onto the floor.
"The Killing Curse. Only one person is known to survived it. And he's sitting in this room." Moody said, limping over to Harry. He stared down at him, and as Harry looked up, Moody dig in his pocket and took a large swig from a silver hip flask.
-
"Brilliant, isn't he?" Ron said as we walked down the winding stairs to the Great Hall. "Completely demented, of course and terrifying to be in the same room, but he's really been there, you know? He's looked evil in the eye."
"Nothing about that man is brilliant, Ron." I said, still fighting back the tears that threatened to spill onto my cheeks. Harry placed his hand on my shoulder gently.
"There's a reason those curses are unforgivable. To perform them in a classroom... I mean, did you see Jove? Did you hear Neville's sobs?" Hermione said as she bumped into a frozen Neville on the stairs. He had been looking out of a window blankly.
"Son, you alright?" Moody asked as he pushed his way through the crowd that was beginning to surround the poor boy. Neville nodded slightly with puffy eyes and trembling lips. "Come on, we'll have a cup of tea. I want to show you something." Moody headed back up the stairs, and Neville followed him slowly.