"Write to me every week. Understood."
"I will Sirius and now for Merlin's sake stop hugging the life out of me. We are in this position since past five minutes. I have a train to catch Padfoot. We need to go to the platform. It is 10.40 already for fuck's sake."
"But pup! We won't meet again till a day after Christmas!" Sirius sniffed. Their Christmas vacation started three days late this year but fortunately the vacation was still 12 days long like usual.
"Help me Remus."
"That is enough of your dramatics Sirius. Harry needs to reach the platform. Stop the act." Remus said at Harry's insistence.
"Wait. You are acting!?"
"Damn it Moony. I was rocking it before you ruined the thing." Sirius said still not breaking from their embrace.
Harry groaned and said, "Last warning Sirius. If you don't let go of me right now, I will vanish your clothes and apparate to the platform with you. So, unless you wish for your nude body to be showed to the world..." Harry let the threat hang.
"I will have you know pup that they will be privileged to view my perfect ass. Ladies swoon at its sight."
"Perhaps these words should be reported to Amelia. She will set you right."
Amelia and Sirius had apparently started dating after Harry had set them up. They had gone on a total of six dates and Sirius had taken Amelia for Dinner for the last one. They both hadn't come back home till the next morning, sending a message to Harry and Susan that they were busy. It didn't take a genius to figure out what they were up to.
Susan had grabbed that opportunity to come to Harry's House and snog him senseless. But, she went back to Bones Hall (Her family's ancestral home) after an hour.
"Ok. Ok. Happy?" Sirius asked finally breaking their embrace.
"I wasn't upset Sirius. Just in a hurry. Now, let's apparate to King's cross shall we?" Sirius nodded and took Harry's arm before disappearing with a pop. They arrived at the apparation point at platform 9 and three quarters with a crack of apparation. Harry's trunk was already in his pocket and Hedwig was flying to Hogwarts as she hated being put in a cage especially after the flying car trip to Hogwarts two years ago. Harry had bought her a perch at his home in Somerset so that she didn't need the cage. So, currently he didn't need to worry about baggage.
They walked towards the train. Harry knew that Weasley's were yet to arrive. They never arrived before 10.55 AM for the Hogwarts express. As Harry and Sirius walked towards the train, Harry felt several eyes on him. He could hear whispering among the student and the parent body. It wasn't something he hadn't expected. He was the youngest winner of the U-18 WDL and the Order of Merlin. His fame had shot up like a rocket during the summer vacation.
"Harry! HARRY!" he heard Susan's voice calling him. She was already seated in a compartment with some other people. "Come here! We have seats!" Harry shot her a thumbs up sign.
"Go kiddo. Your girlfriend's calling." Sirius teased.
"Well her aunt would be around here. Who happens to be your girlfriend. Go trouble her." Harry replied.
"Oh, I will after you kids are off."
Harry merely rolled his eyes and boarded the train, bidding Sirius goodbye. He went towards the compartment his girlfriend was sitting in. On reaching there, he saw that with her Cedric and Cho were also present in the compartment. "Hey Susan, Cho, Cedric. How are you guys?" He greeted before giving Susan a chaste kiss on her lips.
"Harry. Or should I say Mr. Dueling champion, winner of Order of Merlin, First Class, Heir Harry James Potter Black?" Cedric greeted in a jokey tone.
"Well, the second one sounds better and more dramatic which is why I like it. But, as I am a busy person, stick to Harry. The titles take up a lot of time to recite." Harry replied in a similar fashion.
"Of course. I will make a point not to take more time from your busy schedule." Cedric replied.
Susan and Cho rolled their eyes at their banter. "Come, sit Harry. Where are your friends? Weasley and Granger?" Cho asked.
"Hermione had gone to stay with the Weasleys two days ago. So, she will arrive with them only. And knowing Weasleys it won't be until a couple of minutes before the train leaves."
"They arrive so late?" Cho asked in an incredulous tone.
"Every year Cho. I stayed with them last year. The rush they made... it was the most chaotic thing I have seen. And Ron says that it happens every year."
"So, it's a tradition?" Cedric asked.
"I guess." Harry replied with a shrug.
True to his prediction, Susan saw a gaggle of Red-heads enter from the muggle side of the platform exactly two and a half minutes before the train left. They immediately entered the nearest compartment as Mrs. Weasley fussed over them. Suddenly their door opened and Astoria came in dragging Daphne with her.
"Hey guys! Can we sit?" they nodded at the youngest Greengrass' question.
She plopped herself beside Cedric while Daphne gracefully sat down beside Harry. She sat closer than necessary, making Harry love his position between his two girlfriends even though one was a secret one for the world. Soon they were joined by Neville Longbottom. Puberty had hit him good as he was looking about a quarter feet taller than he was before they had broken for the Summer break. But, he was still the shy boy he was since their first year. He still congratulated Harry for winning the WDL and the Order of Merlin.
The train journeyed for another hour before Ron and Hermione finally found Harry.
"Here you are! We were searching everywhere for you. I thought you missed the train again!" Hermione said in a single breath.
"Budge up Nev." Ron said as Hermione sat beside Daphne.
"Where do you think there is space to shift for?" Neville asked. Ron looked around and saw that there was indeed no space.
"Here." Harry solved the problem by waving his wand and increasing the compartment size.
"Damn Harry. You make us look bad."
"Isn't it against the rules to alter a compartment?" Hermione asked to no one in particular.
"So, if you feel we are breaking rules you will have to leave as I am not. And I am also not standing." Ron said. As if on cue everyone looked at Hermione as if she was going to take a world changing decision. She leaned back in her seat before opening her mouth.
"Well... Cedric here is a prefect. So he is with us and hasn't said anything. So, we have permission." Hermione declared.
"When did I come from?" Cedric asked with amusement. Hermione just hummed before asking him if he had a prefects meeting or not.
"At 1.00 PM. They changed it this year as it took a lot of time for people to settle. It is experimental. Atleast that's what they said."
"So Cedric, how is your preparation for NEWTs going?" Hermione asked
"They are still more than a year and a half away. Why should I be worried?"
"You are in seventh year, right?"
"Nope. I start my sixth year today. Don't know where you got that idea from."
"When we took the Portkey for the World cup, your dad mentioned that you would be of age in a month."
"Yes. My birthday is on 12th September. Due to that, I am the oldest guy in my year. I was 12 when I took my first flying lesson in the first year. It was my birthday that day if I remember correctly."
"They don't admit students who turn 11 after September First even though their birthday is in September itself?"
"No. I actually cried when I didn't receive an invitation to Hogwarts a week before it began when I was 10. Dad floo called McGonagall and she told that I will receive the invitation for the following year on my Birthday regardless of the fact that I turned 11 two weeks into the term."
"That's sad."
"You have no idea Tori."
They soon reached Hogsmeade station. The only problem was that it was raining cats and dogs. Harry applied his raincoat charm on his carriage companions before exiting the compartment. Harry, Neville, Ron and Hermione took the first carriage to the Castle from Hogsmeade station as they had casually walked and boarded the carriage while the other students were preparing their robes to run towards the carriages.
"You know, I pity the firsties. I won't fancy a trip through the lake in such a weather." Ron remarked and they nodded. If this type of rain continued for a few more hours, the lake would definitely overflow.
They made their way up the stairs before entering the area outside the Great Hall. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a water Balloon fall towards Ron. He flicked his wand out while simultaneously using a wandless charm to stop the Balloon, making it look like a spell performed incredibly fast.
"PEEVES! Come down HERE!" Professor McGonagall's voice roared. The Poltergeist just cackled before he threw another Balloon towards the batch of students who entered but he forgot that Harry was still there. Harry stopped that one too before hurling the balloons back at PEEVES with a spell. Poltergeist are semi-solid... they could turn intangible or solid at will. Unfortunately for Peeves he was solid at that moment since he needed to hold the water Balloons.
It impacted him straight on his face causing Peeves to fly back and drop the Balloons. Everyone's eyes widened as two dozen water Balloons rushed towards the floor. But, Harry saved them by catching those Balloons too and shooting them towards Peeves who had just gotten up.
"AHHHH! NO!" Peeves shouted as he was impacted by several Balloons in rapid succession before he could even process what was happening. The last three Balloons impacted the wall as Peeves turned intangible. Still, the damage was already done. Peeves had gotten hell. He raised his hands and said, "Sorry ickle Potter. Peevesy won't do anything to you again. Forgive ol' Peevesy sir." Before he rushed out through a wall. Harry vanished the water from the floor as people cheered.
He looked around and saw that everyone was soaked due to the rains outside. He casted a wide area drying charm. It wasn't as effective as an individual one but would suffice for time being. Several people thanked him on the way to the Hall and some even added congratulations. Harry turned to the professor. "Professor McGonagall, can you cast dying charms on everyone? It will be better if people weren't wet during the feast."
"I was going to do that Mr. Potter before you beat me to it. You can go in now. I will do the needful. And 20 points to Gryffindor for helping fellow students out and 10 more for controlling Peeves."
Harry nodded and walked into the Great Hall and sat at the Gryffindor table where Hermione had already saved him a seat. Soon everyone was seated, thankfully dry or damp at worse. McGonagall led in the First year students to be sorted. The batch was much bigger than theirs with more than 90 students as compared to their 57. Another unfortunate effect of Voldemort's reign of terror resulted in their batch being smaller than usual. Usually each year consisted of around a 100 students but their batch was almost half of the normal amount due to Voldemort and his cronies killing off several children and expecting parents before he was stopped by Harry.
After the sumptuous feast Dumbledore stood up and the Hall quietened.
Harry paid a little attention to the first few notices that Dumbledore gave about Filch extending the list of forbidden items, the Forbidden forest being out of bounds, Hogsmeade etc. Then he dropped the bomb. "... It is my painful duty to inform you all that the inter-house Quidditch league will unfortunately not be taking place this year."
Protests broke out amongst the student body, several students calling Dumbledore names and swearing out loud in a manner which would have earned them a month of detention from McGonagall in usual cases. But, she couldn't punish the whole school. After a minute of protests and whisperings, Dumbledore got fed up and let out a loud blast from the end of his wand and instantly everyone quietened.
"This is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers' time and energy - but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely." Dumbledore continued as if nothing had happened. "I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts -" But, at that moment the doors of the great hall banged open.
A man stood in the doorway, leaning upon a long staff, shrouded in a black traveling cloak. Every head in the Great Hall swiveled toward the stranger, suddenly brightly illuminated by a fork of lightning that flashed across the ceiling. He lowered his hood, shook out a long mane of grizzled, dark gray hair, then began to walk up toward the teachers' table. A dull clunk echoed through the Hall on his every other step. He reached the end of the top table, turned right, and limped heavily toward Dumbledore. Another flash of lightning crossed the ceiling. Hermione gasped.
The lightning had thrown the man's face into sharp relief, and it was a face unlike any Harry had ever seen. It looked as though it had been carved out of weathered wood by someone who had only the vaguest idea of what human faces are supposed to look like, and was none too skilled with a chisel. Every inch of skin seemed to be scarred. The mouth looked like a diagonal gash, and a large chunk of the nose was missing. But it was the man's eyes that made him frightening. One of them was small, dark, and beady. The other was large, round as a coin, and a vivid, electric blue. The blue eye was moving ceaselessly, without blinking, and was rolling up, down, and from side to side, quite independently of the normal eye - and then it rolled right over, pointing into the back of the man's head, so that all they could see was whiteness.
Harry recognized him. Alastor 'Mad-eye' Moody. One of the greatest Hit-wizard to have ever lived with the greatest field record to boot. Also, one of the most paranoid men alive. He had also hand trained his dad, Sirius, Amelia, and most recently Tonks for field work. Tonks was his last protégé along with two others before he had decided to retire last year. And now he was at Hogwarts as a professor.
Moody shook hands with Dumbledore and they conversed for a few moments before both nodded. 'Probably a password of some sort to ensure security.' Harry had heard this trait of Moody's from Sirius and something they had incorporated. Whenever meeting outside the confines of their home, they would greet each other by their marauder names before proceeding to use three specific, pre-decided words in their sentence namely splendid, delicious and dragonhide. They didn't have an opportunity to use it yet though.
Dumbledore cleared his throat. "As I was saying, we are to have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."
"You're JOKING!" said Fred Weasley loudly.
The tension that had filled the Hall ever since Moody's arrival suddenly broke. Nearly everyone laughed, and Dumbledore chuckled appreciatively. "I am not joking, Mr. Weasley," he said, "though now that you mention it, I did hear an excellent one over the summer about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar.
Professor McGonagall cleared her throat loudly. "Er - but maybe this is not the time.. . no. . ." said Dumbledore, "where was I? Ah yes, the Triwizard Tournament. . . well, some of you will not know what this tournament involves, so I hope those who do know will forgive me for giving a short explanation, and allow their attention to wander freely."
Dumbledore proceeded to give the basic information of the tournament and its history. It was nothing that Harry didn't already know.
"The heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving with their short-listed contenders in October, and the selection of the three champions will take place at Halloween. An impartial judge will decide which students are most worthy to compete for the Triwizard Cup, the glory of their school, and a ten thousand Galleons personal prize money."
The student body seemed extremely excited and eager to participate in the tournament. Harry calmly sat in his seat gauging everyone's reactions. He knew most people's hopes were going to be crushed as soon as the age requirement criteria was announced. As predicted, protests broke out as soon as Dumbledore told they had to be of age i.e. 17 years of age or above to compete. They were all silenced as Dumbledore let out a bang from the end of his wand and proceeded to highlight the safety precautions that were being taken. He also told them that anyone below sixth or seventh year students were unlikely to be selected as they won't be able to cope up with it and thus they shouldn't waste their time in trying to submit their names.
"The delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving in October and remaining with us for the greater part of this year. I know that you will all extend every courtesy to our foreign guests while they are with us, and will give your whole-hearted support to the Hogwarts champion when he or she is selected. And now, it is late, and I know how important it is to you all to be alert and rested as you enter your lessons tomorrow morning. Bedtime! Chop chop!"
"Mr. Potter, here is your timetable. Here is yours Ms. Granger and I am pleased to see that you have seen sense and dropped two subjects this year." McGonagall said before moving ahead. Harry looked at his timetable and saw that they were going to spend time outdoors until lunch as the first lesson was Herbology followed by COMC. After Lunch it was their sleep time... err... History of Magic period followed by Arithmancy. A good day then.
Confession time: It wasn't good at all.
For Herbology they had to squeeze Bubotubers to collect their pus. The pus was absolutely disgusting and smelled like petrol. And on top of it, the pus had to be carefully removed and it had to be ensured that it didn't come in contact with their skins. They each collected around Half dozen bottles of pus. Harry even stole the last Bottle which he was only able to fill halfway. Bubotuber pus was an extremely important ingredient in several potions. Though, the only person who had seemed to enjoy the activity was Neville.
After that they went to Hagrid's and were introduced to a completely new breed of creatures called Blast-ended Skrewts. They were six inch long, extremely hideous creatures which smelled like rotten fish. Harry had to cast the air freshening charm about a dozen times throughout the class.
After that Harry had a heavy Lunch and went to the History of Magic classroom with Ron and Hermione. As soon as the class started, Harry dozed off and was woken up by Hermione when the bell rang. Bless Hermione's soul that she had also took proper notes which she gave it to Ron and Harry with a roll of her eyes. Harry duplicated it and handed it back to Hermione with a grin. The teachers only checked homework after all. Notes weren't checked.
Harry and Hermione parted ways with Ron to go to the Arithmancy class while Ron went to the North tower for divination. Professor vector just revised the previous year topics and send them off. After that they met a sulking Ron in the common room. The reason? Their professor had given them a lot of homework in Divination that was due in three days. So, Ron did his homework while Harry and Hermione chatted away.
After a while they went for Dinner to the Great Hall. As they neared, a voice stopped them.
"Weasley! Hey, Weasley!" Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were standing there, each looking thoroughly pleased about something.
"What?" said Ron shortly.
"Your dad's in the paper, Weasley!" said Malfoy, brandishing a copy of the Evening Prophet and speaking very loudly, so that everyone in the packed entrance hall could hear. Before he could say anything more, Harry snatched the paper out of his hands and silently read the headline as Hermione and Ron leaned over his shoulder.
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.
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.
"They didn't even get your father's name correct Weasley. But, after all he is a nobody so they wouldn't have bothered anyway." Malfoy said with a smirk. Hermione and Harry had to physically stop Ron from attacking Malfoy. "And there's a picture, Weasley! 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?"
"Like the way your mother would do much better by loosing you Malfoy?" Harry asked. Malfoy went pink and opened his mouth but couldn't say anything as Harry had silenced him with a wandless charm. "After all, you brought her such shame when you didn't obey common etiquette in the top box in front of the highest authorities in the Magical world, no less. A pathetic and mannerless wizard like you born to a daughter of house Black. The shame. Come Ron don't pay heed to such... people." Malfoy was already turning purple. Harry took Ron's arm and lead him away.
Suddenly he heard a bang and immediately dodged out of the way of a Spell that was fired at his back as his senses tingled (another advantage of Occlumency). He immediately whirled around and fired his bone-breaking-disarmer spell at Malfoy as someone yelled "OH YOU DON'T LADDIE!"
Malfoy screamed in pain for a brief moment as the bones in his arm broke and he was disarmed just before he was converted into a pure white ferret.
Harry turned around and saw that Professor Moody was limping down the marble staircase. His wand was out and it was pointing right at the pure white ferret, which was shivering on the stone-flagged floor.
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, "I dodged and hit him back before he could do anything."
"Good Potter. LEAVE IT!" Moody shouted suddenly.
"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.
"Yep," 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, the dull clunk of his wooden leg echoing around the hall. "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 dungeon.
"That was bloody brilliant" Ron gasped between fits of laughter. Hermione and Harry were also laughing as they made their way to the Gryffindor table. It was a similar scenario with several different people as it seemed that the word had spread like fire about the Ferret-Malfoy incident.
"Cool, isn't he. Professor Moody?" Fred (or George) asked as the twins slid into the empty space next to the trio.
"Beyond cool. Supercool." Said the other twin.
"Did you have a lesson with him Today."
"Yep. double period after Lunch."
"How was it?" Hermione questioned.
"Awesome. He knows –"
"– what he is doing. He has –"
"–seen it all! And –"
"– done it all"
"Seen what, done what?" Ron asked.
"Fighting the dark arts." Said Fred in a solemn voice.
While Harry knew that no such thing as Dark magic existed, he was very interested for the lesson now. The twins were never easily impressed but this man had them singing his praises!
"We haven't got him till Thursday." Ron whined, breaking Harry out of his thoughts.
Harry had misjudged the excitement for Moody's class. Apparently by the time he reached there after a trip to the chamber, there was already a queue outside the Classroom waiting for the bell to ring. And there was still 15 minutes remaining for the bell. Thankfully Ron was at the beginning of the line with Hermione, so Harry just joined them in the line instead of going at the end.
As soon as the bell rang they all rushed to grab the front seats.
A minute late they heard dull clunking and Moody limped into the classroom. The class was unnaturally quite. It wasn't this quite even in Snape's or McGonagall's classroom even when the professors were present.
"You can put those away," he growled, stumping over to his desk and sitting down, "those books. You won't need them." People scrambled to put the books in as Moody read the register, one eye fixed on the book while his magical eye was spinning to see each person. A moment later he snapped it shut before he proceeded to give a short speech on how he was at Hogwarts to teach only for a single year and their class would be covering curses as their syllabus.
His first topic somewhat shocked Harry- the Unforgivable curses. Salazar and Helga had only briefly covered them saying that he would learn them later. Yes, casting included.
"Who can give me the name of an Unforgivable curse?" He asked in his gruff voice. Some people raised their hands. You Weasley. He said pointing at Ron who had not raised his hand.
"Well- well there is one known as the Imp-imperious curse... my dad... he told me about it." He said in a low voice.
"Ah, yes," said Moody appreciatively. "Your father would know that one. Gave the Ministry a lot of trouble at one time, the Imperious Curse. Take 5 points." Moody said getting up and taking out a spider from a jar. Harry heard Ron let out a whimper beside him. His arachnophobia was widely known.
He pointed his wand at the spider and almost inaudibly muttered "Imperio". Harry heard it only because of the fact that he was in the first row and his enhanced hearing.
Moody proceeded to start making the spider tap dance. The class bar Harry and Ron laughed at the antics Moody was making the spider do.
"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 Imperious Curse," said Moody, and Harry knew he was talking about the days in which Voldemort had been all-powerful. "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 Imperious 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.
"Anyone else? Come on, who can name the second unforgivable curse? You Longbottom." He pointed towards Neville who had timidly raised his hand, much to Harry's shock.
"There is one... The cru-Cruciatus curse." He said in a barely audible voice.
Harry closed his eyes remembering what had happened to Neville's parents. A fate worse than death. The Lestranges and Barty Crouch Jr. had tortured the couple into insanity. Now, the once powerful auror couple, were vegetables lying in a bed at St. Mungo's permanent damage ward. Even Salazar and Helga had said that there was no hope from them because parts of their nervous system were literally fried.
"Yes... yes. The torture curse- the Cruciatus. Nasty spell." Moody began. "One doesn't need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can perform the Cruciatus Curse. . .. That one was very popular once too. For this you need something bigger. Engorgio." The spider in Moody's hand swelled to the size of a tarantula. Ron instantly pushed his chair back, trying to get as far away from the spider as possible.
"Crucio" Moody said pointing his wand at the spider and a red coloured light emerged.
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, but Harry was sure that if it could have given 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.
Harry looked around at her. She was looking, not at the spider, but at Neville, and Harry, 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. The poor boy.
Moody stopped the curse. "As I said, nasty. The last one? Which is the last unforgivable?" He asked. No one answered. "No one, eh? Very well. The killing curse. Avada Kedavra."
A flash of green and the spider rolled away. Dead. "Not nice," he said calmly. "Not pleasant. And there's no counter-curse. There's no blocking it. Only one known person has ever survived it, and he's sitting right in front of me." Moody said, looking at Harry with both his eyes. Harry met his gaze unwaveringly.
"Sir, but the killing curse can be blocked if a substantial physical object is put in its path. Similar with the Cruciatus." Harry calmly stated.
Moody looked at him in surprise before he barked out a laugh. "You have done it, haven't you? You protected yourself against the Unforgivable curses when the scum at the World cup used them against you by doing that. Bravo Potter! You have the making of a fine hit-wizard." Moody stated as Harry nodded in agreement.
"Yes, the Cruciatus and the Killing curse can be protected against by putting a substantial object in its path. It has to be heavy and thick, something like a marble block. It is advisable to conjure it, but that requires quickness and skills, something that Potter thankfully has. But, no magical shield is able to stop it." Moody said looking around the class.
"Now, you may ask that why am I showing you these curses? 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. . . these 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..."
On 23rd September, Harry found himself in the ritual chamber once again. Only this time, Hedwig was with him. Why? Because Harry was performing the familiar ritual. He remembered what the conversation he had with the two Hogwarts Founders about the Ritual a couple of weeks ago.
FLASHBACK
"Harry, on this equinox, you will do another Ritual. It will be different than any other ritual that you have done till date. By this ritual, you won't gain any ability or enhancement, but rather your companion will." Helga said.
"Companion?"
"Yes. You told us about your owl Hedwig, correct? And we determined she had formed a weak bond with you?"
"Yes, a familiar bond. She can understand my feelings and is extremely loyal to me." Harry stated.
"Excellent. The ritual that we have decided for you to do is known as the familiar ritual."
"What does it do? What will happen to Hedwig."
"The effects of the ritual can not be predicted." Salazar began. "It depends from person to person and animal to animal. The ritual can result in something as simple as prolonging the animals life, forming of a mental link between the person and the animal, or to outright giving the animal new abilities or turning it into a higher form."
"Meaning?"
"A higher form of animal means converting it into a more magical animal... for example, a horse into a Pegasus or an unicorn, a house-cat into a kneazle, a snake into a magical variety like ash-winder or a basilisk. Helga, Godric and I did the ritual. Godric got his house cat turn into a completely new creature which looked like half-lion and had it's strength and the speed of a cheetah. Helga got her falcon turned into a Phoenix, while my king cobra Bessie, she turned into a Basilisk after we did the ritual."
"Wait..." Harry frowned. "Shouldn't it be a Queen Cobra if Bessie was a female?"
"..."
"A King Cobra is a King cobra. Regardless of whether it is a male or female." Salazar said after a few moments of silence. "Even if it is a female, it won't be called a queen cobra."
"And what about Rowena Ravenclaw? Didn't she do the ritual?"
"Rowena never found a appropriate animal to take as a familiar after her pet Eagle died when she was young. It happened much before we met to discuss the idea of Hogwarts. After that, she never had heart to take another familiar so she never did."
"Oh." Harry could completely understand Rowena's feelings. If something happened to Hedwig, he couldn't see himself replacing her. She was his constant companion for more than three years and someone he told everything about. And Hedwig was a patient listener. She was truly an extremely intelligent owl.
"Will it harm Hedwig?"
"No... Not unless you horribly botch up the ritual by drawing wrong runes which won't happen as we will be checking it several times before you do it. So, rest assure Hedwig is safe. In our time, most people with an animal did the ritual. Never has an animal died. It was after all those bans that the ritual fell out of practice."
"Okay... then I will do it." Harry said.
FLASHBACK ENDS
"Check it once again." Harry told Salazar and Helga.
"Child, do not worry. No harm will come to her. We have already checked the runes twice. They are perfect. Now, tell Hedwig to settle in the smaller circle and use a mild Petrificus Totalus or a Stupefy on her to ensure that she doesn't move or fly out." Salazar said.
Harry nodded and turned to Hedwig. "Hed, I am going to put you into a mild body bind. We are going to do a ritual which will benefit you. Don't worry, nothing will happen to you." Hedwig hooted and bobbed her head up and down in agreement.
"Yeah... Ready, 1...2...3..." Harry finished the countdown by shooting a mild body bind at Hedwig. She stiffened. Harry gently picked her up and laid her in the smaller ritual circle before he himself laid in the bigger one.
"Remember... you will go into a sleep like state and won't feel anything or see anything but will be awake. So, don't panic or do something when that happens or else we will have to do it again." Helga reminded and Harry nodded.
He chanted and the runes glowed. Instantly he felt his senses shut down like he had fallen asleep but he was still awake. It was a peculiar experience.
After what seemed like hours Harry's senses returned and he opened his eyes.