Pure Love {Cedric Diggory}

24. DARK CURSES

| CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR |

DARK CURSES.

NATASHA WAS SEATED BESIDES ROSIE for their first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson back. The blonde hadn't uttered a word, her eyes glued to the empty chalkboard at the front of the classroom, Quidditch was cancelled. It was truly insanity. Nobody cancelled Quidditch. Nobody. 

She was too consumed in her own thoughts of how she was going to convince Dumbledore to let the matches continue, when the door slammed open, so loud it probably echoed throughout the entire school. The blonde Hufflepuff jumped in her seat before glancing over her shoulder. A shiver ran down her spine as soon as her eyes landed on Professor Moody. To her, he still looked as creepy as he did the first time she laid eyes upon him. 

His heavy boots banged on wooden floorboards as he made his way to the front of the classroom, his robot eye swirling wildly. Natasha couldn't help but think how the device worked. Was he actually able to see through it? Or was it a funky accessory like pirates have when they lose an eye?

"You can put those away," He growled, gesturing to the Defence Against the Dark Arts book situated in front of every student, "You won't be needing them."

Natasha glanced to her friend, both of them looking puzzled but nevertheless they followed the man's instructions, not wanting to get on the wrong side of him so quick. The rest of the class also shoved their books into their bags before the room finally quietened as everyone looked back at the new professor.

"Right then," Professor Moody nodded, "I've had a letter from Professor Lupin about this class. Seems like you've had a pretty thorough grounding tackling Dark creatures - you've covered Boggarts, Red Caps, Hinkypunks, Grindylows, Kappas, Giants, Obscurials and werewolves, is that correct?"

No one dared to speak, instead they all simultaneously nodded their heads, their eyes still wide as they stared at the man.

"But even as sixth years you're still very behind on dealing with curses," Moody stated, "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 Curses."

A shiver ran down Nat's spine as she shared worried looks with Rosie. Sure, Dark Curses seemed like it'd be an interesting topic to learn about - especially before going out into the real world after what had happened at the Quidditch World Cup - but the way he said it, caused her to feel uneasy. 

"Curses. They come in many strengths and forms," Professor Moody stated nonchalantly, "I'm not only going to tell you the counter-curse for said curses but also show you what they look like. Otherwise, how are you to know when a wizard is about to pull an illegal curse on you? You need to be prepared. You need to be alert and watchful," His booming voice echoed off of each wall of the room as Natasha swallowed hard, her throat suddenly feeling like it was closing up, "So...do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by wizarding law?"

Several hands shot up in the air, a mix of Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors. Natasha's stayed down on the desk in front of her. She slid further into her seat, hoping his eye wouldn't catch her. The Professor glanced around the classroom before nodding at one of the students at the back.

"The Imperius Curse," The Gryffindor said, puffing his chest out proudly. 

Moody nodded, "Yes, very well done," He said to the boy before walking over to the many jars that were located near the largest window. Natasha straightened her posture to look at what he was doing before she shared a puzzled look with Rosie as they watched their Professor take out a living spider. 

He put the innocent creature onto his palm before magnifying it (probably so that the students from the back could see what was happening), his wand was still pointing at the animal when he muttered, "Imperio."

The spider leapt from Moody's palm on a thin thread of silk. Natasha watched with wide eyes as the spider began to swing before doing a backflip and landing on the nearest desk to the front. Her eyes went back to Moody and panic washed over her as she noticed the wand still pointed at the creature as he made him do all sorts of things, like a circus monkey performing in front of a crowd. It was truly disturbing. No one seemed to be smiling at it, everyone's eyes were wide, some students had even gone pale.

"Total control," Professor Moody finally said, "I could make it jump out of the window, drown itself, throw itself down one of your throats. Years back, there were a lot of witches and wizards being controlled by the Imperius Curse. Some job for the Ministry, trying to sort out who was under the curse and who was acting on their own free will. The Imperius Curse can be fought - 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."

Moody finally let his wand hand drop to his side as he picked up the spider with his other one, "Anyone else know one?"

Only a handful of people put their hands up this time, most of them looking extremely hesitant to do so. Natasha kept hers firmly on the desk, she had heard of the Unforgivable Curses before, but never properly looked into them and coming from a muggle world, no one out there knew.  

"Yes?" Moody's robot eye landed on a brunette Hufflepuff. 

The boy cleared his throat, "The- The Cruciatus Curse."

 Professor Moody nodded. Clearing his throat, he placed the spider back down onto the desk at the front, "Crucio!"

As soon as the word left his lips, the spider began to twitch uncontrollably, squealing in utter pain. The sight was truly disturbing and Natasha found herself looking away. Squeezing her eyes shut, she hoped for the screaming to cease but it didn't. It seemed as if the man was enjoying it too much to stop. Enjoying the power he had over this poor, innocent creature. 

She didn't re-open her eyes when the screaming finally stopped. She couldn't. She knew if she did, tears would stream down her cheeks like waterfalls and the last thing she ever needed in life was to cry in front of her classmates. Nat suddenly felt a hand coming to hold hers on top of the table, and instantly she knew it was Rosie and squeezed her friend's hand back, thanking her for that slight bit of comfort. 

"Pain," Moody's voice replaced the screaming, "You don't need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can perform The Cruciatus Curse. That one was very popular too. Who's going to provide us with the last one?"

Nat opened her left eye to scan the classroom quickly. Nobody had their arm up anymore, everyone seemed to be frozen in their spots, teary eyes and pale faces refusing to look anywhere near the Professor. Opening her other eye, Natasha used her free hand to wipe any evidence of tears off of her face. 

"Very well," Moody finally muttered, taking his eyes off the students, he pointed the wand back at the spider, "Avada Kadavra."

As soon as the spell left his lips, a bright flash of green emerged from the end of his wand, hitting the spider and causing it to drop dead instantly. Natasha wasn't exactly sure of all the laws in the wizarding world, but even she knew that this didn't seem legal. Sure, learning about these spells, now that was a different story, but actually using them in a classroom; that part really didn't sit well with her.