Alastor Moody

                                    

                                          
The next day
                          
  We started off with Defense Against the Dark Arts and as usual we had a new professor, which was the famous auror Alastor Moody. He was a scary looking man, and he was known for the giant mechanical eye that rested on his head, he was known as Mad-Eye Moody. There was something about him that gave me a terrible feeling. "Alastor Moody." he greeted us coldly. "I'm here because Dumbledore asked me to, end of story goodbye the end. Any questions?" he seemed very eccentric. An awkward silence followed. "When it comes to the Dark Arts I believe in a practical approach, but first which one of you can tell me how many Unforgivable Curses there are?" "Three sir," Hermione said worriedly. "And they are so named?" Professor Moody asked. "Because they are unforgivable. Use of any of them will..." "Give you a one-way ticket to Azkaban, correct. Now the Ministry believes you are too young to see what curses can do. I say different! You need to know what you're up against and you need to be prepared!" he paused. I saw his eye turning towards Seamus and it was freaking me out. "You need to find another place besides your desk to put your chewing gum Mr. Finnegan!" he shouted. "Blimey, the old loon can see out the back of his head." a student commented a little too loudly. Suddenly Professor Moody threw a piece of chalk at the student in anger. I saw Malfoy and his gang snicker at the sudden action. "So which curse shall we see first?" "WEASLEY!" he shouted at Ron. "Yes?" my brother quivered in fear. "Give us a curse." "Well, my dad did tell me about one... The Imperius Curse." "Ahh, your father would know about that. Gave the Ministry quite a bit of grief a few years ago." He brought a spider out of a jar, "Perhaps this will show you why." he brought the spider into his hand and casted "Imperio." the professor made the spider float across the room. The spider hovered on Ron's head and he was about to panic, and Draco started laughing at him. Professor Moody saw this and made the spider fly into Draco's face. The Gryffindors in the classroom roared with laughter, especially Ron and Harry. 
"Scores of witches and wizards have claimed they do the bidding of You-Know-Who under the influence of the Imperius Curse, but how do we sort out the liars?" No one raised their hand. "Come on." he invited. I raised my hand hesitantly. I didn't know that would be a huge mistake. 
"Ah, another Weasley." Professor Moody's eye seemed to be staring into my soul. "Professor Dumbledore tells me you have an aptitude for Dueling. Good with a wand I presume?" his demeanor was changing to be more open. I nodded awkwardly, "There's... um the Cruciatus curse." I answered. "Correct! Correct. Come, come. Particularly nasty, the torture curse." just then I found myself standing up. "Crucio." Professor Moody cast the torture spell on the poor spider and some of the magic seemed to be affecting me and Neville Longbottom. Pain seared through my head and I started to panic as well as Neville. Hermione's eyes widened in terror, "Stop it! Can't you see it's bothering them? Stop it!" 
The professor immediately stopped and I sat down at my desk burying my head in my arms. My head was still hurting and I didn't want to see any other horrible thing from this lesson. I knew they were called Unforgivable Curses for a reason. "Miss Granger, perhaps you can give us the last Curse?" I heard Professor Moody say. Hermione didn't say anything. "Avada Kedavra!" I heard him shout. The spider gave a weak squeak as it died. "The Killing Curse, there has been only one person who has known to survive it and he's in this room sitting in front of me." I knew instantly that he was referring to Harry. I wondered if he grew tired of people bringing up his tragic past. I certainly wouldn't want that. 
                          
The second class was over I ran out of the room and down the stairs to the courtyard to get some fresh air. I didn't care it was raining, I needed to cool off and calm down after the intense lesson we had. I sat underneath my favorite tree that I liked to be by to study. I leaned back against the trunk of the tree, closed my eyes, and took deep breaths. I now understood why the Ministry of Magic didn't want those Curses to be taught in a classroom. "Are you alright?" I heard the voice of Cedric. I opened my eyes and saw him standing before me looking concerned. I nodded, "I'm okay, we just had an intense lesson in Defense Against the Dark Arts." "I heard the new professor demonstrated the Unforgivable Curses." he looked at me sympathetically. Tears started to form in my eyes and my lip started to tremble, I couldn't cry in front of him. A Gryffindor was supposed to be brave, and I wouldn't look too brave. "Yeah, it was so scary." my voice broke. "Come here Lyddie." he opened his arms to me and hugged me. I learned my head against his shoulder as he hugged me, and he was gently rubbing my back to calm me down. He was being so sweet. "You're okay, I'm here for you." Cedric whispered.  "Thank you." I didn't want the hug to end, because all my fears seemed to fade away and I felt wonderful. 
                          
   We walked to the Great Hall to see people put their name in the goblet of fire. Cedric was going to put his name in as well. Everyone was full of excitement. "Ready?" I asked with an encouraging smile. Cedric hugged me, "Ready as I'll ever be." he took a piece of parchment that had his name on it out of his robes pocket, walked through the Age Line, and put his name inside the goblet. Everyone cheered for him, and I cheered the loudest for him. He smiled modestly and walked back to me and gave me another hug, and that made me feel good. Just then my twin brothers ran into the room causing the other students to roar in cheers. I chuckled to myself in disbelief. Suddenly Fred and George jumped over the Age Line and put their names in the goblet. They waited for a moment and cheered, but their celebration was short lived. The flame from the goblet flew up and knocked my brothers onto the floor. When they got up; it was evident that the Age Line changed them. They had grown grey hair and beards, and when they saw each other they instantly got angry.  "You said!" "You said!" they began to fight. Harry, Ron, and all the other students yelled "Fight! Fight! Fight!" "Are they always like this?" Cedric asked trying not to laugh.  "Pretty much." I laughed watching my brothers make fools of themselves, and Hermione was clearly annoyed because she sat down and started to read a book.  
                          
   The fighting stopped when Viktor Krum entered the room; he had a stern and focused look. He took his piece of parchment and put it in the goblet. He saw Hermione and smiled at her and walked away. I thought I saw Hermione blush.