HOAX | George Weasley

XV

For the following week up until school started, Cassie had not been successful in forgetting the resurface of memories that the night of the Quidditch World Cup had brought back to light. She tried really hard, she didn't talk about it with her father and pretended that she was not in a constant state of dread.

She couldn't quite shake the feeling that she had felt that night, but most importantly she couldn't deny the fact that she felt this had been a signal of some sorts. She just didn't know what she was supposed to understand from it. It was only on the first day of school, when Grace had asked her if she already knew what subjects she was going to take, if she already knew what she wanted to be that it struck her.

The missing piece fell right in place.

She realised what the sign was. It was a sign for her to follow in her mother's footsteps, to continue in whatever way she could with her legacy. She was going to become an Auror.

It was so clear now, all her young life she had looked for a way to live up to her mother's memory; be in Gryffindor because she had been, play Quidditch because she had been a star player, become a prefect as she. But that never felt fulfilling, she didn't excel at Quidditch and she wasn't an exceptional prefect, not like Roger. But this...working on something that would bring some good into the world, this felt right.

Her father could not know about it, though. Not until it was a reality, she didn't know much about Aurors but she doubted that it was easy to get into the programme. So, there was no point in worrying him for something that might not even happen.

Luckily for her, on the welcoming feast the other day, Professor Dumbledore had introduced the new teacher for Defence Against the Dark Arts and he just so happened to be a retired Auror, Professor Moody looked scary enough to have a ton of experience and wiseful advice to impart on his students. She was on her way to his first class right this moment, excitement present on every fibre of her body.

She had loved DADA's lessons with Professor Lupin, certainly the best one they had had since school started, but she was confident that this year she was going to love them too.

(...)

"Avada Kedavra!" a blinding green light escaped Professor Moody's wand, landing straight on the spider that was on Cassie's desk. A chilling atmosfere took hold of the whole classroom and in an instant, the spider lay dead where it stood.

Cassie's face paled and she closed both of her fists with such strength that she could feel her nails digging into her skin. She paid it no mind.

She raised her gaze from her desk only when Prof. Moody sweeped the dead spider to the floor, now focusing her eyes on him. "Nasty business, right?" he asked the class, silence followed. "And there is no countercourse, no blocking it." he continued. Cassie couldn't stop the sickness that had risen from her stomach but she fought it, the last thing she needed now was to grab attention to herself.

Prof. Moody kept talking, his voice coming from far away to Cassie. "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. "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 to prepare. You need arming. But most of all, you need to practise constant, never-ceasing vigilance."

She saw by the side of her eye, a boy raise up her hand. "Yes, Mr...?"

"Harris." The boy from Hufflepuff responded and went on to ask the question. "If there is no countercurse..."he looked unsure of continuing his question, but a nod from Prof. Moody made him go on. "During the war...why didn't all Death Eaters use that, instead of Imperius or Cruciatus." he finished asking and all sets of eyes went to land on him.