Muffliato (Draco Malfoy)

3 - MOODY

Alora Lin

"Now class, who can tell me what the three Unforgivable Curses are?" Professor Moody spoke, his magical eye darting from left to right.

I sat beside Padma, twirling my quill in my hands as I saw Hermione's arm shoot up out of the corner of my eye.

Professor Moody slowly strolled by our desks, clearly ignoring Hermione's hand that was frantically waving in the air. My back tensed up when Professor Moody stopped by my desk, facing Padma and I. I found myself holding my breath in his intimidating presence, fearing that he would be able to hear my heart pounding.

"Weasley!" he shouted, turning around to face Ron and Harry who sat at the table beside mine. I felt my shoulders relax immediately as I let out the breath that I had been holding.

"Yes," Ron quivered, bolting out of his seat with a straight posture to face Professor Moody eye-to-eye.

The two people sitting behind me let out a few sniggers. Turning around, my eyes landed on Draco, who already happened to have his eyes on me.

"Will you shut up, Malfoy?" I spat.

"Make me," he sneered, raising his eyebrows in the process.

"Just ignore him," Padma whispered, pulling on my arm so that I turned to face the front of the classroom again.

My attention turned back to Ron, who was still being interrogated by Professor Moody.

"W-Well," Ron stuttered. "My dad did tell me of one... the Imperius Curse."

"Ah yes," Professor Moody nodded with approval. "I'm sure your dad must know a lot about that one. Sure caused the Ministry a lot of grief a few years ago. Perhaps this will show you why."

I shuffled in my seat, nervous about what was to come. Surely Professor Moody wasn't about to demonstrate the Imperius Curse on a bunch of fourth years?

Professor Moody returned to the front of the classroom, opening one of the many glass jars that sat on his desk. Out of the jar crawled a spider the size of my palm. To make matters worse, Professor Moody mumbled, "Engorgio," which made the spider the size of my entire hand.

I internally screamed; I have never been very fond of spiders.

Without any hesitation, Professor Moody yelled, "Imperio!"

The spider squirmed in the palm of his hand, letting out a piercing screech. Seconds later, it jumped from Professor Moody's hand and landed on Dean Thomas and Neville Longbottom's desk.

Everyone lurched back in their seats as no one seemed keen on wanting to be attacked by the spider.

I watched as Professor Moody pointed his wand in my direction. My heart dropped to my stomach as the spider leapt over to my desk, jumping onto my hand before sprinting up my arm.

Every muscle in my body tensed. My breath hitched as the spider started crawling up my neck. Laughs burst around the classroom as my peers watched me squirm in my seat.

My fear quickly dissipated when Professor Moody pointed his wand in Ron's direction, causing the spider to jump onto Ron's head. Ron immediately began whimpering, staring up as the spider began crawling down his forehead and onto his nose.

The laughing in the classroom continued, and this time, I couldn't help but join. Malfoy and Goyle were cackling behind me, which immediately drew the attention of Professor Moody.

"What are you laughing at?" Professor Moody questioned before pointing his wand at Draco.

The spider immediately sprung onto Draco's face. Draco straightened in his seat, repeatedly hitting his hands on the desk and smacking Goyle's arms as he cried, "Agh, get it off!"

I couldn't help but enjoy the sight of him acting so cowardly. Harry seemed to agree with me as he had started clapping his hands.

The spider soon jumped off of Draco and onto the next victim. Draco looked back at the spider in fear, before turning in his seat to face me. He fixed his hair and adjusted his robes as his gray eyes pierced into mine.

"What are you staring at, Lin?" he exclaimed, almost immediately reverting back to his cold self.

"Scared, Malfoy?" I joked.

Draco only scoffed before breaking eye contact and bringing his attention back to Professor Moody.

The rest of class proceeded just as chaotically as the first ten minutes did. Professor Moody followed up by demonstrating both the Cruciatus and Killing Curse, leaving the class stunned and disturbed.

When the bell rang, everyone sprang from their seats and began packing up their books. As I got up from my seat, Draco was so hastily stuffing his quill and parchment into his bag that his book fell off the table and landed by my feet.

I hesitated, debating on whether I should walk over the book and pretend like I didn't see anything, or if I should just pick up the book and hand it to him.

"Alora, let's go," Padma called, waiting for me at the front of the classroom.

I swiftly bent over, picking up Draco's book and putting it back on his desk. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw his face lift up in surprise before quickly returning to a cold glare. Before he could make any snarky comments at me, I turned on my heel and started walking towards Padma.

Even when Padma and I had made our way to the classroom door, I could still feel Draco's stare burning into the back of my head.

-

"What's going on out there?" Cho asked, looking out into the courtyard.

A few weeks have passed, and the Triwizard champions have been selected. The school has been responding positively to Cedric Diggory's selection as one of the champions. Everywhere he goes, a crowd of girls seems to trail behind him, much to the dismay of Cho.

Harry, on the other hand, has received more backlash than one can imagine. Everywhere he goes, a crowd of Slytherin boys are sure to follow, calling him all sorts of rude nicknames.

"I'm not sure," I spoke, peeking at the crowd that had now formed in the courtyard. "Let's go check it out."

Cho and I walked into the courtyard, hearing the laughter of students grow louder as we neared them. Standing on tip toes and looking over people's shoulders, I spotted a white ferret floating up and down in the air. Professor Moody was not far off, using his wand to control the ferret's movements.

"Why is Professor Moody playing with a ferret?" I questioned, furrowing my eyebrows as Cho simply shrugged her shoulders.

Before long, Professor McGonagall pushed people aside as she made her way through the throng of students.

"Professor Moody!" she shrieked. "I-Is that a student?"

My eyes widened, and I directed my attention back to the ferret. Before my brain could process what was happening, the ferret had transformed into Draco. He laid sprawled on the grass, his platinum blonde hair sticking up in all directions.

I tried my best to suppress my laughter, but ultimately failed to do so as a snort ended up coming out.

Draco darted up onto his feet, fists clenched so tight that veins were popping out of his hand. "My father will hear about this!" he cried.

"Is that a threat?" Professor Moody retorted before chasing after Draco.

Sprinting around a tree, Draco almost lost balance as he made a ninety degree turn. He quickly regained balance before looking into the crowd in front of him. His eyes momentarily landed on me, causing his cheeks to flush a light pink, before he darted out of the courtyard in embarrassment; his Slytherin goons obediently followed in his path.