I let out a yawn as I sat down at the Gryffindor table, sending glares to Lee and George as I piled food onto my plate.
"We've already said that we're sorry!" Lee groaned, shoving some bacon into his mouth.
"Yeah - we were dying Emily - we couldn't wake up from our beauty sleep" George added, aggressively nodding.
Fred scoffed from beside me, rubbing his forehead in pain, "Well you little shits, we did pretty well. Made a good start"
"So? How long will it take?" Lee asked, now in a whisper, looking left and right as if there was a spy listening to every word.
"More than 3 hours you moron" I whispered back.
We were quickly interrupted by the post, and I looked around expectantly for mail, knowing that I usually received letters this far into the beginning term. When no owl came I narrowed my eyes in confusion, leaning backwards in my seat to make eye contact with my sister.
"Hermione have you got any letters from mum? We normally get one by now"
"No" she replied quickly, getting up from her seat and walking away from me before I could inquire further.
My eyebrows drew together, a frown settling on my face.
"I'm sure they're okay" Fred said, his hand comfortingly resting on my shoulder, "it's only the second week - give them some time"
I smiled up at him thankfully, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Uhm- " he started nervously, scratching the back of his neck "- I was wondering if on Saturday you want to have a little date like thing next to the black lake. We could raid the kitchens and have some time alone"
I grinned, looking at George and Lee who were watching us 'sneakily' from the other side of the table.
"How would poor Georgie feel spending that time alone" I mocked, knowing he could hear me, "he's just such a lonely soul - I fear that if we left him on his own for that long he may go crazy"
"Piss off!" George shouted, giving up his pretence.
"George! Now they know I was listening too!" Lee whined, slapping George upside the head.
Fred and I burst out laughing, earning groans of protest from his twin.
"Aww it's okay George, I won't steal Fred away from you for too long" I smiled, patting his hand "Lee will babysit I'm sure"
Lee nodded, saluting sarcastically.
"See?" Fred grinned "he'll be fine. So - will you?"
"I would be honoured" I giggled, giving a little bow.
"Wicked" George grinned "I want nieces and nephews soon"
I felt the heat rush to my cheeks as I slapped his arm.
"I am a child of Jesus"
"Jesus?"
"He doesn't like sex"
"Oh poor man"
"We've been through this before Lee"
"Your muggle beliefs are odd"
"I'm actually an atheist -"
Confusion spread across everyone's faces
"- but let's not get into that right now, it might be a bit too much for you all"
Before we could continue, everyone was ushered out of the hall for their lessons.
I jumped on Bethany's back as we walked to our Herbology lesson.
"Oomph"
"Hey babe" I laughed, adjusting myself more comfortably on her back.
"Gerroff me you slob" she whined, wiggling her shoulders aggressively.
"Nope this is comfy thanks"
I climbed off her back as we entered the greenhouse, Professor Sprout standing happily at the front of the class, and slid into my regular seat.
"What do you reckon she's got for us today?"
"I hope it's something gross" Beth snickered "watching Eloise Midgen get covered in that puss last lesson was amazing"
I tried to suppress my laugh as I shook my head in disbelief.
"After all these years I still can't figure out how the hell you got sorted into Hufflepuff"
"What can I say, I'm a special sort"
"Ain't that the truth" I scoffed.
Beth's wish was indeed granted as we worked with bubotubers, and Eloise got covered in pus again (which of course led to Bethany having a laughing fit that lasted the rest of the lesson).
I waved goodbye to Beth as I raced along the hallway, dodging as many people as I could. I was going to be late for Moody's lesson, and it felt like he was not a guy you wanted pissed off.
I rushed to my seat next to Lee just as the bell rang, Moody entering the room practically seconds after me.
"Where were you?" Lee hissed under his breath, eyes following Moody
"Beth needed a pee, she forced me to come along"
Lee just rolled his eyes, his full attention now at the front of the room.
"I received a letter from Professor Lupin explaining where you are in the curriculum, but you're behind - very behind - on dealing with curses," said Moody. "So I'm here to bring you up to scratch on what wizards can do to each other. I've got one year to teach you how to deal with Dark -"
"What, aren't you staying?" Fred blurted out, seemingly distraught.
Moody's magical eye spun around to stare at him.
"You'll be Arthur Weasley's son, eh? Your brother Ron asked me the same question earlier" Moody said. "Your father got me out of a very tight corner a few days ago. .. . Yeah, I'm staying just the 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 many strengths and forms. Now, according to the Ministry of Magic, I'm supposed to teach you countercurses and leave it at that. I'm not supposed to show you what illegal Dark curses look like until you're in the sixth year. You're not supposed to be old enough to deal with it till then. But Professor Dumbledore's got a higher opinion of your nerves, he reckons you can cope, and I say, the sooner you know what you're up against, the better. How are you supposed to defend yourself against something you've never seen? A wizard who's about to put an illegal curse on you isn't going to tell you what he's about to do. He's not going to do it nice and polite to your face. You need to be prepared. You need to be alert and watchful."
"So. . . do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by wizarding law?"
Several hands rose tentatively into the air, including mine and Charlie's. Moody pointed at me, though his magical eye was still fixed on Fred.
"the Imperius Curse?" I answered tentatively.
"Ah, yes," said Moody appreciatively. "Gave the Ministry a lot of trouble at one time, the Imperius Curse."
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.
Moody reached into the jar, caught one of the spiders, and held it in the palm of his hand so that they could all see it. He then pointed his wand at it and muttered, "Imperio!"
The spider leapt from Moody's hand on a fine thread of silk and began to swing backward and forward as though on a trapeze. It stretched out its legs rigidly, then did a back flip, breaking the thread and landing on the desk, where it began to cartwheel in circles. Moody jerked his wand, and the spider rose onto two of its hind legs and went into what was unmistakably a tap dance.
I frowned slightly, not finding it that funny.
Everyone else was laughing - everyone except Moody.
"Think it's funny, do you?" he growled. "You'd like it, would you, if I did it to you?"
The laughter died away almost instantly.
"Total control," said Moody quietly as the spider balled itself up and began to roll over and over. "I could make it jump out of the window, drown itself, throw itself down one of your throats. . ."
Lee shivered beside me, looking slightly paler than usual.
"Years back, there were a lot of witches and wizards being controlled by the Imperius Curse," said Moody, "Some job for the Ministry, trying to sort out who was being forced to act, and who was acting of their own free will"
"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?"
Charlie's hand flew into the air again as well as a handful of other Slytherins.
"You" Moody barked, pointing at Graham Montague.
"The cruciatus curse" he said confidently.
Turning back to the class at large, he reached into the jar for the next spider and placed it upon the desktop, where it remained motionless, apparently too scared to move.
"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.
Moody raised his wand again, pointed it at the spider, and muttered, "Crucio!"
At once, the spider's legs bent in upon its body; it rolled over and began to twitch horribly, rocking from side to side. No sound came from it, but I was sure that if it could have given voice, it would have been screaming. Moody did not remove his wand, and the spider started to shudder and jerk more violently.
I squeezed my eyes shut, pressing my face into Lee's shoulder.
Moody raised his wand. The spider's legs relaxed, but it continued to twitch.
"Reducio," Moody muttered, and the spider shrank back to its proper size. He put it back into the jar.
"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. . . anyone know any others?"
I felt sick to my stomach, and glancing around the now silent room I could see the majority of people looked like they were about to be sick as well.
Charlie raised his hand for the third time, and was picked by Moody.
"Avada Kedavra" He said, a slight grin on his lips as he turned around to glare at me.
A shiver ran through me as I glared back, refusing to look weak.
"Ah," said Moody, another slight smile twisting his lopsided mouth. "Yes, the last and worst. Avada Kedavra. .. the Killing Curse."
He put his hand into the glass jar, and almost as though it knew what was coming, the third spider scuttled frantically around the bottom of the jar, trying to evade Moody's fingers, but he trapped it, and placed it upon the desktop. It started to scuttle frantically across the wooden surface.
Moody raised his wand, and I felt a sudden thrill of foreboding as I latched my hand onto Lee's arm.
"Avada Kedavra!" Moody roared.
There was a flash of blinding green light and a rushing sound, as though a vast, invisible something was soaring through the air - instantaneously the spider rolled over onto its back, unmarked, but unmistakably dead. Several of the students around me stifled cries; as 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 in this school at this very moment - Harry Potter"
"Avada Kedavra's a curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behind it - you could all get your wands out now and point them at me and say the words, and I doubt I'd get so much as a nosebleed. But that doesn't matter. I'm not here to teach you how to do it"
"Now, if there's no countercurse, why am I showing you? Because you've got to know. You've got to appreciate what the worst is. You don't want to find yourself in a situation where you're facing it. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he roared, and the whole class jumped again.
"Now. . . those three curses - Avada Kedavra, Imperius, and Cruciatus - are known as the Unforgivable Curses. The use of any one of them on a fellow human being is enough to earn a life sentence in Azkaban. That's what you're up against. That's what I've got to teach you to fight. You need preparing. You need arming. But most of all, you need to practice constant, never-ceasing vigilance. Get out your quills. . . copy this down. . . ."
We spent the rest of the lesson taking notes on each of the Unforgivable Curses. No one spoke until the bell rang - but when Moody had dismissed us, we all left the classroom, a torrent of talk burst forth.
Most people were discussing the curses in awed voices - "Did you see it twitch?" "- and when he killed it - just like that!"
I, on the other hand, felt like if I opened my mouth I would be sick on the spot.
"So - when I said Moody was amazing -" Fred began.
"- I don't think I like his methods so much"
I just shook my head, shakily walking to lunch, not sure if my stomach could handle eating anything at that moment in time.