"What?" said Ron shortly.

"Your dad's in the paper, Weasley!" said Malfoy, brandishing a copy of the Daily Prophet and speaking very loudly, so that everyone in the packed entrance hall could hear. "Listen to this!

FURTHER MISTAKES AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC

It seems as though the Ministry of Magic's troubles are not yet at an end, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. Recently under fire for its poor crowd control at the Quidditch World Cup, and still unable to account for the disappearance of one of its witches, the Ministry was plunged into fresh embarrassment yesterday by the antics of Arnold Weasley, of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office."

Malfoy looked up. "Imagine them not even getting his name right, Weasley. It's almost as though he's a complete nonentity, isn't it?" he crowed. Everyone in the entrance hall was listening now. Malfoy straightened the paper with a flourish and read on:

Arnold Weasley, who was charged with possession of a flying car two years ago, was yesterday involved in a tussle with several Muggle law-keepers ("policemen") over a number of highly aggressive dustbins. Mr. Weasley appears to have rushed to the aid of "Mad-Eye" Moody, the aged ex-Auror who retired from the Ministry when no longer able to tell the difference between a handshake and attempted murder. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Weasley found, upon arrival at Mr. Moody's heavily guarded house, that Mr. Moody had once again raised a false alarm. Mr. Weasley was forced to modify several memories before he could escape from the policemen, but refused to answer Daily Prophet questions about why he had involved the Ministry in such an undignified and potentially embarrassing scene.

"And there's a picture, Weasley!" said Malfoy, flipping the paper over and holding it up. "A picture of your parents outside their house- if you can call it a house! Your mother could do with losing a bit of weight, couldn't she?"

Ron was shaking with fury. Everyone was staring at him.

"Get stuffed, Malfoy," said Harry. "C'mon, Ron..."

"Oh yeah, you were staying with them this summer, weren't you, Potter?" sneered Malfoy. "So tell me, is his mother really that porky, or is it just the picture?"

Rubi was getting angry too. Malfoy really knew no bounds when it came to insulting an individual.

"You know your mother, Malfoy?" said Harry- both he and Hermione had grabbed the back of Ron's robes to stop him from launching himself at Malfoy- "that expression she's got, like she's got dung under her nose? Has she always looked like that, or was it just because you were with her?" Malfoy's pale face went slightly pink. Rubi smirked.

"Don't you dare insult my mother, Potter."

"Keep your fat mouth shut, then," said Harry, turning away.

BANG!

"Harry!" Rubi cried out. She whipped out her wand, rounding on Malfoy

Several people screamed- Harry plunged his hand into his robes for his wand, but before he'd even touched it, he heard a second loud BANG, and a roar that echoed through the entrance hall.

"OH NO YOU DON'T, LADDIE!" Professor Moody was limping down the marble staircase. His wand was out and it was pointing right at a pure white ferret, which was shivering on the stone-flagged floor, exactly where Malfoy had been standing.

There was a terrified silence in the entrance hall. Nobody but Moody was moving a muscle.

Moody turned to look at Harry at least, his normal eye was looking at Harry; the other one was pointing into the back of his head. "Did he get you?" Moody growled. His voice was low and gravelly.

"No," said Harry, "missed."

"LEAVE IT!" Moody shouted.

"Leave- what?" Harry said, bewildered.

"Not you- him!" Moody growled, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at Crabbe, who had just frozen, about to pick up the white ferret. It seemed that Moody's rolling eye was magical and could see out of the back of his head. Moody started to limp toward Crabbe, Goyle, and the ferret, which gave a terrified squeak and took off, streaking toward the dungeons.

"I don't think so!" roared Moody, pointing his wand at the ferret again- it flew ten feet into the air, fell with a smack to the floor, and then bounced upward once more. "I don't like people who attack when their opponent's back's turned," growled Moody as the ferret bounced higher and higher, squealing in pain. "Stinking, cowardly, scummy thing to do..." The ferret flew through the air, its legs and tail flailing helplessly. "Never- do- that- again-" said Moody, speaking each word as the ferret hit the stone floor and bounced upward again.

"Professor Moody!" said a shocked voice. Professor McGonagall was coming down the marble staircase with her arms full of books.

"Hello, Professor McGonagall," said Moody calmly, bouncing the ferret still higher.

"What- what are you doing?" said Professor McGonagall, her eyes following the bouncing ferret's progress through the air.

"Teaching," said Moody. "Teach- Moody, is that a student?" shrieked Professor McGonagall, the books spilling out of her arms.

"Technically, it's a ferret," said Moody.

"No!" cried Professor McGonagall, running down the stairs and pulling out her wand; a moment later, with a loud snapping noise, Draco Malfoy had reappeared, lying in a heap on the floor with his sleek blond hair all over his now brilliantly pink face. He got to his feet, wincing.

"Moody, we never use Transfiguration as a punishment!" said Professor McGonagall weakly. "Surely Professor Dumbledore told you that?"

"He might've mentioned it, yeah," said Moody, scratching his chin unconcernedly, "but I thought a good sharp shock-"

"We give detentions, Moody! Or speak to the offender's Head of House!"

"I'll do that, then," said Moody, staring at Malfoy with great dislike.

Malfoy, whose pale eyes were still watering with pain and humiliation, looked malevolently up at Moody and muttered something in which the words "my father" were distinguishable.

"Oh yeah?" said Moody quietly, limping forward a few steps. "Well, I know your father of old, boy... You tell him Moody's keeping a close eye on his son... you tell him that from me... Now, your Head of House'll be Snape, will it?"

"Yes," said Malfoy resentfully. "Another old friend," growled Moody. "I've been looking forward to a chat with old Snape... Come on, you..." And he seized Malfoy's upper arm and marched him off toward the dungeons.

Professor McGonagall stared anxiously after them for a few moments, then waved her wand at her fallen books, causing them to soar up into the air and back into her arms.

"Don't talk to me," Ron said to the others as they sat down at the Gryffindor table a few minutes later, surrounded by excited talk on all sides about what had just happened.

"Why not?" said Hermione in surprise.

"Because I want to fix that in my memory forever," said Ron, his eyes closed and an uplifted expression on his face. "Draco Malfoy, the amazing bouncing ferret..."

They all laughed, and Hermione began doling beef casserole onto each of their plates. "He could have really hurt Malfoy, though," she said. "It was good, really, that Professor McGonagall stopped it-"

"Hermione!" said Ron furiously, his eyes snapping open again, "you're ruining the best moment of my life!"

Hermione made an impatient noise and began to eat at top speed again.

"Don't tell me you're going back to the library this evening?" said Harry, watching her.

"Got to," said Hermione thickly. "Loads to do."

"But you told us Professor Vector-"

"It's not schoolwork," she said.

Within five minutes, she had cleared her plate and departed. No sooner had she gone than her seat was taken by Fred Weasley. Rubi felt the smile slide off her face, as she was still upset at her friends.

"Moody!" he said. "How cool is he?"

"Beyond cool," said George, sitting down opposite Fred.

"Supercool," said, Lee, sliding into the seat beside George. "We had him this afternoon," he told Harry and Ron.

"What was it like?" said Harry eagerly.

Fred, George, and Lee exchanged looks full of meaning. "Never had a lesson like it," said Fred.

"He knows, man," said Lee.

"Knows what?" said Ron, leaning forward.

"Knows what it's like to be out there doing it," said George impressively.

"Doing what?" said Harry.

"Fighting the Dark Arts," said Fred.

"He's seen it all," said George. "

"Mazing," said Lee.

Ron dived into his bag for his schedule. "We haven't got him till Thursday!" he said in a disappointed voice.

Fred grinned at his brother, before his attention shifted onto the girl beside him, the real motive they were all here. Rubi was staring intensely at her plate, unblinkingly.

"Rubi-"

"What?" She sharply asked.

He took her hand gently into his, to which Rubi suddenly relaxed, as Fred rubbed soothing circles into her hand.

"Love, listen, we shouldn't have been so hard on you." Fred sighed, sharing a glance with George and Lee. "We just wished you weren't so hellbent on us not trying to join."

Rubi pouted, turning to finally look at Fred. She felt her breath hitch when she looked into his chocolate brown eyes, which always warmed and comforted her.

"I just don't want to see you guys hurt." Rubi breathed out.

Fred reached a hand out, softly caressing the girl's cheek. "We won't get hurt."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too, love."

The two fell silent, gazing at each other, the world falling away.

A sudden throat clearing brought them back, making the two smile sheepishly and peer across the table at a smirking Lee and George.

"We're sorry too, Rubi dearest." George said, bowing.

"Yes, terribly sorry." Lee added.

Rubi giggled, "All is forgiven, my dearest Weasley and Jordan." She replied in a posh voice, before they all burst into laughter, the tension all cleared away.

***

Thursday rolled by fairly quickly, and the fourth-year Gryffindors were all looking forward to Mad-Eye, and on Thursday everyone had lined up early outside his class.

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Rubi took four chairs right in front of the teacher's desk, took out their copies of The Dark Forces: A Guide to SelfProtection, and waited, unusually quiet.

The professor came in soon after, barking at them to put their books away. Taking out a register, Moody began to call out names, as his magical eye swiveled onto each student that answered.

"Right then," he said, when the last person had declared themselves present, "I've had a letter from Professor Lupin about this class," Rubi smiled at the mention of her godfather. "Seems you've had a pretty thorough grounding in tackling Dark creatures- you've covered boggarts, Red Caps, hinkypunks, grindylows, Kappas, and werewolves, is that right?" There was a general murmur of assent.

"But you're behind- very behind- on dealing with curses," said Moody. "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-"

"What, aren't you staying?" Ron blurted out.

Moody's magical eye spun around to stare at Ron; Ron looked extremely apprehensive, but after a moment Moody smiled. The effect was to make his heavily scarred face look more twisted and contorted than ever, but it was nevertheless good to know that he ever did anything as friendly as smile. Ron looked deeply relieved.

"You'll be Arthur Weasley's son, eh?" Moody said. "Your father got me out of a very tight corner a few days ago... Yeah, I'm staying just the one year. Special favor to Dumbledore... One year, and then back to my quiet retirement."

He gave a harsh laugh, and then clapped his gnarled hands together.

"So- straight into it. Curses. They come in many strengths and forms. Now, according to the Ministry of Magic, I'm supposed to teach you countercurses and leave it at that. I'm not supposed to show you what illegal Dark curses look like until you're in the sixth year. You're not supposed to be old enough to deal with it till then. But Professor Dumbledore's got a higher opinion of your nerves, he reckons you can cope, and I say, the sooner you know what you're up against, the better. How are you supposed to defend yourself against something you've never seen? A wizard who's about to put an illegal curse on you isn't going to tell you what he's about to do. He's not going to do it nice and polite to your face. You need to be prepared. You need to be alert and watchful. You need to put that away, Miss Brown, when I'm talking."

Lavender jumped and blushed. She had been showing Parvati her completed horoscope under the desk. Apparently Moody's magical eye could see through solid wood, as well as out of the back of his head.

"So... do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by wizarding law?" Several hands rose tentatively into the air, including Ron's and Hermione's. Moody pointed at Ron.

"Er," said Ron tentatively, "my dad told me about one... Is it called the Imperius Curse, or something?"

"Ah, yes," said Moody appreciatively. "Your father would know that one. Gave the Ministry a lot of trouble at one time, the Imperius Curse." Moody got heavily to his mismatched feet, opened his desk drawer, and took out a glass jar. Three large black spiders were scuttling around inside it.

Moody reached into the jar, caught one of the spiders, and held it in the palm of his hand so that they could all see it. He then pointed his wand at it and muttered,

"Imperio!"

The spider leapt from Moody's hand on a fine thread of silk and began to swing backward and forward as though on a trapeze. It stretched out its legs rigidly, then did a back flip, breaking the thread and landing on the desk, where it began to cartwheel in circles. Moody jerked his wand, and the spider rose onto two of its hind legs and went into what was unmistakably a tap dance.

Everyone was laughing- everyone except Moody. "Think it's funny, do you?" he growled. "You'd like it, would you, if I did it to you?" The laughter died away almost instantly.

"Total control," said Moody quietly as the spider balled itself up and began to roll over and over. "I could make it jump out of the window, drown itself, throw itself down one of your throats..."

Ron gave an involuntary shudder.

"Years back, there were a lot of witches and wizards being controlled by the Imperius Curse," said Moody, referring to Voldemort's reign. "Some job for the Ministry, trying to sort out who was being forced to act, and who was acting of their own free will. The Imperius Curse can be fought, and 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. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he barked, and everyone jumped.

Moody picked up the somersaulting spider and threw it back into the jar. "Anyone else know one? Another illegal curse?"

Hermione's hand flew into the air again and surprisingly, did Neville's. The only class in which Neville usually volunteered information was Herbology, which was easily his best subject. Neville looked surprised at his own daring.

"Yes?" said Moody, his magical eye rolling right over to fix on Neville. "There's one- the Cruciatus Curse," said Neville in a small but distinct voice. Moody was looking very intently at Neville, this time with both eyes.

"Your name's Longbottom?" he said, his magical eye swooping down to check the register again. Neville nodded nervously, but Moody made no further inquiries.

Turning back to the class at large, he reached into the jar for the next spider and placed it upon the desktop, where it remained motionless, apparently too scared to move.

"The Cruciatus Curse," said Moody. "Needs to be a bit bigger for you to get the idea," he said, pointing his wand at the spider. "Engorgio!"

The spider swelled. It was now larger than a tarantula. Abandoning all pretense, Ron pushed his chair backward, as far away from Moody's desk as possible.

Moody raised his wand again, pointed it at the spider, and muttered, "Crucio!"

At once, the spider's legs bent in upon its body; it rolled over and began to twitch horribly, rocking from side to side. No sound came from it, if it could have given a voice, it would have been screaming. Moody did not remove his wand, and the spider started to shudder and jerk more violently.

"Stop it!" Hermione said shrilly. She was looking, not at the spider, but at Neville, and Rubi, following her gaze, saw that Neville's hands were clenched upon the desk in front of him, his knuckles white, his eyes wide and horrified. Moody raised his wand. The spider's legs relaxed, but it continued to twitch.

"Reducio," Moody muttered, and the spider shrank back to its proper size. He put it back into the jar. "Pain," said Moody softly. "You don't need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can perform the Cruciatus Curse...That one was very popular once too."

"Right... anyone know any others?"

Hermione's hand shook slightly as, for the third time, she raised it into the air.

"Yes?" said Moody, looking at her.

"Avada Kedavra," Hermione whispered. Several people looked uneasily around at her.

"Ah," said Moody, another slight smile twisting his lopsided mouth.

"Yes, the last and worst. Avada Kedavra . . . the Killing Curse." He put his hand into the glass jar, and almost as though it knew what was coming, the third spider scuttled frantically around the bottom of the jar, trying to evade Moody's fingers, but he trapped it, and placed it upon the desktop. It started to scuttle frantically across the wooden surface. Moody raised his wand, and Rubi felt a sudden thrill of foreboding.

"Avada Kedavra!" Moody roared. There was a flash of blinding green light and a rushing sound, as though a vast, invisible something was soaring through the air- instantaneously the spider rolled over onto its back, unmarked, but unmistakably dead.

Several of the students stifled cries; Ron had thrown himself backward and almost toppled off his seat as the spider skidded toward him. Rubi felt herself go numb, almost feeling sick. Moody swept the dead spider off the desk onto the floor.

"Not nice," he said calmly. "Not pleasant. And there's no countercurse. There's no blocking it. Only one known person has ever survived it, and he's sitting right in front of me." Harry reddened as Moody looked at him. Harry stared at the blank blackboard as though fascinated by it.

Moody was speaking again. "Avada Kedavra's a curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behind it- you could all get your wands out now and point them at me and say the words, and I doubt I'd get so much as a nosebleed. But that doesn't matter. I'm not here to teach you how to do it." He paused.

"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 again.

"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 preparing. You need arming. But most of all, you need to practice constant, never-ceasing vigilance. Get out your quills... copy this down..."

They spent the rest of the lesson taking notes on each of the Unforgivable Curses. No one spoke until the bell rang- but when Moody had dismissed them and they had left the classroom, a torrent of talk burst forth. Most people were discussing the curses in awed voices. They were talking about the lesson, as though it had been some sort of spectacular show, but he hadn't found it very entertaining. Rubi was still disturbed by what she has witnessed.

"Hurry up," she said tensely.

"Not the ruddy library again?" said Ron.

"No," said Hermione curtly, pointing up a side passage.

"Neville."

Neville was standing alone, halfway up the passage, staring at the stone wall opposite him with the same horrified, wide-eyed look he had worn when Moody had demonstrated the Cruciatus Curse.

"Neville?" Hermione said gently. Neville looked around.

He seemed disturbed but Professor Moody came and took him to his office for a little chat before they could ask anymore questions.

"What was that about?" said Ron, watching Neville and Moody turn the corner.

"I don't know," said Hermione, looking pensive.

"Some lesson, though, eh?" said Ron to Harry as they set off for the Great Hall. "Fred and George were right, weren't they? He really knows his stuff, Moody, doesn't he? When he did Avada Kedavra, the way that spider just died, just snuffed it right- Ow!" Rubi stomped on his foot to make Ron quiet.

Rubi wrapped her arms around Harry. She knew he must be thinking of his parents.

"I'm so sorry, Harry." She whispered. Harry pulled her closer and gripped her tighter.

Ron didn't speak again until they reached the Great Hall, when he said they better start on Trelawney's homework.

Rubi made her way over to her friends, dropping into the space beside Fred. The young Black began to add some small morsels of food to her plate, but she didn't consume anything. Her mind was still replaying the events from Moody's class.

Hey!

Like I said, here's another update in a short amount of time. Excited for you all to read the upcoming chapters! Please let me know of any ideas for the upcoming story if you have them! Take care and I hope to see you in the next one! <33

-Serina