Putting The 'M' in Mystery~ Hinny/Jily

The Unforgivable

"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?