Aurora | Harry Potter

chapter five

"Alastor Moody," Mad-Eye says, introducing himself to the class. "Ex-Auror, Ministry malcontent and your new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher." He scrawls his name on the chalkboard and turns to look over the class.

"I am here because Dumbledore asked me, end of story, goodbye! The end!" He snaps, everyone watching him in silence. His glass eyeball protruding out of his face, large scars spiralling down from the top of his head to his cheeks. His large brown coat torn in places and burnt in others.

"Any questions?" He asks, to which he gets no response from anyone. "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?"

I raise my hand to answer. "Three, sir." Moody nods and asks why they're named Unforgivable. "Because that's what they are. Using one of them--

"--will earn you a one-way ticket to Azkaban, correct!" Moody finishes as he scribbles 'UNFORGIVABLE' on the chalkboard. "Now the Ministry says you're too young to see what these curses do, I say different!" He shouts, slamming the piece of chalk on the front desk, making some students jump.

"You need to know what you're up against! You need to be prepared!"

I look slightly behind me and see Seamus sticking his chewing gum underneath his desk, which Moody points out and after somehow hearing Seamus' discontented grumbles, he throws the chalk over his head and yells, "And I hear across classrooms!"

"So," Moody says, moving closer to the front row of desks, "which curse shall we see first?" Then he looks down at Ron and tells him to stand up and give him one of the curses.

"Well, my dad did tell me about one. The Imperius Curse?" Moody nods his head. "Oh yeah, your father would know all about that. Gave the Ministry quite a lot of grief a few years ago... perhaps this will show you why."

As Moody walks away and Ron sits back down, I get a sinking feeling in my stomach. Moody then enlarges a spider/beetle thing and exclaims, "Imperio!" Then, he uses his wand to fling the spider/beetle at multiple people, placing it on Crabbe's head, Ron's head, Draco's face etc.

"Talented, isn't she?" Moody cackles, laughing along with all the other students, "What should I have her do next? Jump out the window? Drown herself?" Suddenly the classroom immediately quietens, the mood dropping.

"Scores of witches and wizards have claimed that they only did You-Know-Who's bidding under the influence of the Imperius Curse, but here's the rub," Moody explains, a slight gleam in his eye, "how do we sort out the liars?"

Multiple students raise their hands and when I see Neville's hand slowly rise, my heart drops. Neville hasn't told anyone apart from me - to my knowledge - about what happened to his parents and it is just heart breaking to think about it.

"Longbottom, is it? Professor Sprout tells me you an aptitude for Herbology," Moody says to him. Neville nods and reluctantly says, "The Cruciatus Curse," to which Moody exclaims that he's correct and tells him to come closer to the spider/beetle thing.

"The Torture Curse," Moody mumbles as he starts to torture the poor insect which screams out in agony. I look at Neville and instantly see the pain in his face.

"Stop it!" I shout, shooting up from my seat and I pull Neville away from Moody, who stops once he sees Neville's face. I sit Neville back down and whisper, "It's okay, you can talk to me later." He gives me a kind smile and I turn to go sit back down.

"Wait there a second, Miss Diggory."

I turn around again to look at Moody, who beckons me forward. After I briefly hesitate, I walk to the front.

"Perhaps you can give us the last Unforgivable Curse, Miss Diggory?" He asks, placing the insect on a nearby book. I don't look away from the insect as I whisper, "The Killing Curse."

Moody mumbles something before he points his wand at the insect and snaps, "Avada Kadavra!" The insect immediately drops dead and I sharply gasp as a reaction, my throat chokes up and tears threaten to drip from my eyes.

"The Killing Curse. Only one person known to have survived it and they're sitting in this room," Moody says as he looks over at Harry.

I hurriedly make my way to the back of the classroom, hurriedly wiping my eyes to rub away the salty tears.

Once the class is over, everyone makes their way out of the classroom and I immediately run to find Neville, who is standing near a window, mindlessly looking out of it.

I lightly tap him on the shoulder and when he sees me, he sniffles and I pull him into a hug, wrapping my arms around him.

"I'm so sorry, Neville," I apologise, never wanting him to have to see someone go through that like his parents did. "It's okay, thank you, Aurora."

As we pull out of the hug, Harry, Ron and Hermione arrive and they also make sure Neville's okay. Then, Moody walks down the stairs and asks Neville to come back to his room.

He gives us a small wave as he walks back upstairs, leaving me with the others.

"Are you alright, Aurora?" Hermione asks, rubbing my shoulder supportively. I nod my head and let out a deep sigh. "I'm fine... I think it was just the shock."

As we start to walk down the stairs, Ron's voice pipes up. "Hey, tonight we find out who the champions are going to be!" As they all start getting excited, I silently pray to myself that Cedric won't be chosen.

I know that he's strong and smart, but I don't want him to risk his life for a stupid tournament...

"Come on, Aurora!" Harry exclaims, whipping me out of my slight day dream. "Sorry, I'm coming," I reply, putting on a fake but believable smile as we hurry to the Common Rooms, this evening's uncertainty hanging in the air.