Chosen

Chapter 9

The next day was interesting. I had Defense Against the Dark Arts with Professor Moody. I took a seat next to Seamus. Everybody took their seats and he began, "Alastor Moody, ex-auror, Ministry malcontent and your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Dumbledore asked me, end of story, goodbye, the end. Any questions?"

Everything was silent. I suppose people were scared of him. "When it comes to the Dark Arts, I believe in a practical approach. But first, which of you can tell me how many Unforgivable Curses there are?"

"Three, sir." I called out.

"And they are so named?" He continued to write on a chalkboard.

"Because they are unforgivable, the use of any one of them will-"

"Will earn you a one way ticket to Azkaban, correct." He cut me off. "The Minister says you are 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 and you need to find a better place to put your chewing gum besides the underside of your desk Mr. Finnigan."

"Ahh, no way, the old codger can see on the back of his head." Seamus whispered to me. Professor Moody then immediately turned around and threw the piece of chalk he was writing with at him. "And hear across classrooms!" He yelled. I laughed silently at him. "So which curse shall we see first?" He whispered. "Weasley!" He again shouted. Ron answered immediately "Yes?"

"Stand." Ron stood up very slowly looking very scared. "Give us a curse."

"Well, my dad did tell me about one. The Imperius Curse."

"Yeah, your father would know all about that." He leaned into Ron. "It gave the Ministry quite a big grief a few years ago. Perhaps this will show you why." He walked back to a table at the front of the classroom and took a weird looking spider out of a jar and into his hand. He then pointed his wand at the spider and said, "Imperio." Next he made the spider go on Dean's desk that was in front of the classroom. He gasped and everyone laughed. Next he put the spider on Crabbe's head. "Don't worry, completely harmless." Next was Padma Patil who was laughing at Crabbe. The spider crawled up her arm and then he made the spider dangle above Ron's head. Draco was laughing so hard, Moody decided to bring the spider over onto his face. "What are you laughing at?" Draco began to act like a little girl trying to get the spider off. It was funny I couldn't help but giggle out loud. Next was my turn. The spider flew through the air and onto my desk. Of course, I wasn't fazed by it. I sat there very bored. "What Miss Thyme, not afraid are we?" The spider continued to crawl up my arm and onto my shoulder, I didn't blink an eye.

"No, sir."

"Maybe you're not afraid of a spider, but are you afraid of being thrown the curse at you?"

I pet the spider and looked at him, "I highly doubt it."

"Well why don't you come and volunteer? Come on, to the front of the classroom." He encouraged me. I glared at him and slowly stood up, making my way to the front of the classroom. Everybody's laughter silenced. I stood directly in front of everyone. I looked Moody straight in the eyes, and he yelled "Imperio!" everybody gasped. "Now class, when the Imperius Curse is set on a human, you can also get them to tell you what you want. In a way it is like Veritaserum." He again looked at me.

"Miss Thyme, stick your tongue out." Nothing happened. My tongue didn't budge. Everybody was shocked. I smirked at him.

"Tell us your deepest darkest secret." He also looked shocked. I chuckled as he tried to get it to work.

"Some people, class, cannot be affected by the curse, if they have practiced endlessly to do so. So tell me Miss Thyme, have you been practicing?"

"No, sir, because if I did, then I'd get a one way ticket to Azkaban." Everybody agreed with me.

"Right, Miss Thyme you may take your seat." I walked back to my desk with everybody's eyes on me.

"Scores of witches and wizards." Professor Moody began. "have claimed that they only joined you-know-who's bidding under the influence of the Imperius Curse, but here's the grub, how do we sort out the liars?" He fell silent. "Another, another?" He asked. He pointed at Neville. "Longbottom is it? Up." He commanded. Neville stood up. "Professor Sprout tells me you have an aptitude for Herbology." Neville nods.

"There's the um, the Cruciatus Curse."

Professor Moody was ecstatic. "Correct, correct, come." He ushered Neville to the table in the front.

"The Torture Curse." He set the spider down the table and pointed his wand at it. "Crucio." He continued. The spider whimpered as Neville became more uncomfortable with it.

"Stop! Can't you see it's bothering him, stop!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. I had known for a fact that Neville's parents were killed by this curse. He was one of my very close friends so seeing him like this bothered me as well. Moody stopped the torture. He took the spider in his hands and set it on a book on my desk. "Um, perhaps you could give us the last Unforgivable Curse, Miss Thyme?" I didn't answer; I just stared at the back of Neville's head wondering if he was alright.

"Very well then, Avada Kedavra." The spider was shot down dead. I clenched my jaw. There was something about Moody that I couldn't stand. "The Killing Curse. Only one person has been said to have survived it, and he's sitting in this room." All eyes were on Harry now.

I was glad to be out of that class. I stomped out of the classroom and down the spiral staircase. I just wanted to get out of there. Classes were done for the day, so I went down to the Great Hall for dinner. Cedric ran up to me and took my arms.

"Nyx, are you ok? I heard what happened in Moody's class."

"Really? That was fast." I wasn't surprised.

"Well you know how fast rumours are spread here, so are you ok?" He was very concerned.

"I'm fine, I'd be more worried about Neville." I said looking back on how poorly Moody had treated Neville. I will have to speak with him tomorrow. I looked over at the Slytherin table and saw Draco staring at me so I looked back to Cedric.

"Ya know, on second thought, I'm not really hungry. I'm just gonna go to bed." I hugged him. "See ya tomorrow."

"See ya." He replied and I walked out of the Great Hall.