Alastor Moody
“Was that your attempt at flirting? That was pathetic, Draco.” Theo laughed. Ever since Blaise told him what happened with Potter, he won’t stop bringing it up. They sat in the common room, waiting for Pansy so they can walk down to defense against the dark arts.
Draco sighed, “I already told you, I panicked!” he put his head in his hands, “I can’t believe I said decent.” The truth is, Draco can believe he said decent. He’s never been able to do anything correctly around Potter, except maybe insulting him.
“Draco, darling, stop being dramatic. But do know, if you fuck this up again, I will take matters into my own hands.” Pansy said, walking down the dormitory stairs. You never want Pansy to take matters into her own hands.
Draco rolled his eyes, “we’re going to be late.” He turned and walked out of the common room.
***
“How many unforgivable curses are there?” What a lovely way to start class. Not even five minutes into class and he’s already talking about the unforgivable’s. Alastor Moody may be as mad as he looks.
“Three, professor. They are unforgivable. The use of any of them will-” That, of course, was Granger. Who Draco will have to apologize too soon, He can tolerate apologizing to her, he just doesn’t want to apologize to Weasley.
“Earn you a one-way ticket to Azkaban. Right.” Professor Moody finished, as he wrote the word ‘unforgivable’ on the Chalkboard. “The Ministry believes you are too young to see what these curses do for yourselves. I say that’s rubbish.”
“Name a curse!” Moody belted, and several people in the front row jumped.
“The Imperius curse.” Some Ravenclaw in the back said. Draco was Familiar with this one, whenever his father went on one of his power trips, he liked to cast it on Draco. He never made Draco do anything too crazy. He made him do little things just to show that he could control him and that there was nothing he could do about it.
Moody pulled out a creature from a jar, “Imperio!” He made the creature jump onto a desk in front of some Gryffindor, and he screamed. He screamed like a little girl. That made the whole class laugh, including Draco. He then made the creature jump onto some girl’s head. “don’t worry, it’s harmless.”
The creature then jumped in front of Potter, “Unless it bites you, its poison is lethal!” Moody laughed. He laughed. This bloke really is mad. Suddenly he’s no longer laughing, he’s staring at Potter. Unlike any normal person, Potter shows no signs that he’s scared, or even nervous. He’s not even looking at the creature. He’s looking at Professor Moody. Staring back at him, with a look in his eyes that’s never even been directed at Draco. This gave Draco goosebumps.
After a few tense seconds Moody looks away. Potter looks over at Weasley, who’s sitting next to him. Weasley looks kind of terrified. They whispered back and forth, Weasley a bit more aggressively. Why was Moody Staring at Potter like that? It couldn’t be what Draco thought, he was an ex-auror. But there was no other explanation. That was a warning.
Potter looks around the room, as if he was looking for someone but caught Draco's eye instead. Draco's eyebrows furrowed, and he nodded his head toward the professor. Potter blinks as if he was taken aback by this. He quickly recovered, frowned, and mouthed ‘I don't know.’ Draco made a face. That made Potter chuckle, out loud. He covered his mouth with his hand. It was Draco’s turn to be taken aback. Potter dropped his hand and slightly smiled. He turned back in his seat.
“Longbottom! I believe you know another unforgivable.” Longbottom stiffened, he opened his mouth then closed it, like a fish out of water. Moody smirked, it was quick, and if you would have blinked you would have missed it. But Draco saw it. What the bloody hell? “Stand up Longbottom. Come over here.”
He stood. Then he almost fell, but Potter grabbed his arm. He wobbled over to Professor Moody, almost falling twice. He walks up, Moody has the creature in his hand. “What is the name of the next curse Longbottom?” was he really going to make him say it? Many people didn’t know about what happened to Longbottom’s parents, but Draco knew because of his father. Clearly, Weasley, Granger, and Potter know as well.
Blaise shifted in his seat next to Draco. “what’s up with Longbottom?” Draco looked over at him and saw he was staring at Longbottom, with a facial expression that almost looked like concern. Interesting. Noted for later. Draco shrugged, wasn’t his secret to tell.
After a few more moments of Moody staring into Longbottom’s soul someone finally said something. “The cruciatus curse!” Weasley looked as red as his awful hair. “bastard” he whispered but through the quietness of the classroom, it echoed.
Moody didn’t spare Weasley a glance, he pointed his wand at the creature, “Curcio.” The creatures’ screeching was horrible. Many students covered their ears. Longbottom stood, shaking a little. He stared at the creature as if he couldn’t look away.
5 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds. What was he trying to do? Kill it? Any longer and it’ll surely be killed. “Stop it! You’re going to kill it!” Granger yelled; her eyes wide as plates. Finally, the screeching stopped. The creature lay there, not moving, but it wasn’t dead. Not yet anyway, Draco could guess what the next curse was.
“fuck” he mumbles, this wasn’t going to end well. At all. Blaise looked over at him, with questions in his eyes. “The killing curse, Potters sitting in the front.” He whispered; Blaise grimaced.
“Neville,” Potter said gently as if he was talking to a child. “Come sit back down.” That seemed to take him out of his trance. He walked back to his seat, eyes down.
“This next curse is one I’m sure you all know. The killing curse.” Potter started bouncing his leg under his desk. “There is no blocking this curse, you best dodge it.” He said looking around the room. “There is one known person to survive this curse. And he’s in this very room” his eyes landed on Potter. Potter shifted, clearly uncomfortable.
Professor Moody pointed his wand at the creature’s head, “Avada Kedavra!” a bright flash of green light came out of his wand, and just like that the creature was dead. Moody looked back up at Potter, but Potter wasn’t looking at him. He was still looking at the once-alive creature.
“Class dismissed”
Everyone rushed to leave, including the Gryffindor trio. As Draco, Blaise, and Pansy walked out the door, they saw Weasley and Granger standing outside the door, Potter wasn’t there. “Granger, is he alright?” Pansy asked. Since when did she talk to Granger?
Granger looked up and shook her head, “I wouldn’t be alright. He went to the dorm, he’ll probably miss potions, snapes going to flip.” She turns to look at Blaise, “Zabini,” then she looked at Draco, “Malfoy.” She nodded her head, a knowing look in her eyes. Damnit Pansy.
He nodded his head, “Granger” He then turned to Weasley, It took everything in him to not sneer. “Weasley.” Granger smiled and slightly nodded her head. Weasley looked as if his jaw came loose.
He walked away before he could hear Weasley’s reply.
***
Harry walked into his dorm room. He was still shaking slightly. He sat on his bed and closed the curtains. He cast a silencing spell. He thought of the green of the killing curse, the way that creature died. The way the light from the creatures’ eyes slowly dimmed. His eyes burned, but he didn’t cry.
He was never allowed to cry. Whenever he cried at the Dursleys, best case scenario Aunt Petunia slapped him and locked him in his room. Or cupboard when he was a little younger. Worst case? Vernon was home. Vernon was a vile, vile man. Harry wouldn’t wish what Vernon did to him on anyone.
When he started going to Hogwarts, things only got worse. Yes, he moved out of the cupboard into Dudley’s second room. But he was starved like never before. They used to starve him for maybe two days and then give him something, But now the longest he goes without eating is four days.
This still affects him at Hogwarts. When he’s stressed, he can go days without eating. He’s so used to hunger pains, he won’t even notice. He won’t eat anything until Hermione reminds him that he hasn’t eaten. Sometimes a voice in his head would tell him that he deserved to feel hungry. He tries to ignore it. He failed to, sometimes.
Vernon's beatings have gotten worse as well. In the last few days before summer was over, Vernon would hit him less. So Harry didn’t go to school with bruises all over. He didn’t care anymore. In second year, Harry came to school with a black eye. This year he came to school with a broken nose.
The only person that noticed he came back from the Dursleys hurt, every year, was Madam Pomfrey. She healed him without question until third year, she told Dumbledore about Harry's injuries. Harry asked her afterward what Dumbledore had said to her. She just frowned at him. Figures.
Harry laughed, it was dry and unfunny. One little flash of green light and he can’t stop feeling sorry for himself.
He hates feeling sorry for himself.
What does he do when he needs a distraction? He reads. He takes that wandless magic book out of his trunk and continues to read it. It’s helpful, it even has little exercises to do to help with control without a wand.
He reads and reads. Getting lost in the pages.
***
Eventually, he got tired of reading. His wandless magic is going well, it’s slow progress but better than no progress at all. He dreaded having to go back to the Dursleys. He can’t use magic there, and he hates every second of it.
Harry decides to walk around, before having to go to the great hall to eat. He gets lost in his thoughts about wandless magic and how he’s going to get his magic more controlled. About astronomy, and how he wants to sketch more constellations soon, about how Snapes going to be extra nasty to him because he skipped class.
He thinks about Malfoy. About how he complimented Harry, he insulted him first, but that was definitely a compliment he gave after. He didn’t exactly know how to take this. Any other time, like Ron, he would have thought that Malfoy was just messing with him. Playing some sick game.
But the way his eyes softened. Most people would have missed it, but Harry has always been good at observing people. That Wasn’t something people could fake. Harry has seen people try, and they fail. He seemed genuine.
He looked at Harry with concern when Professor Moody Practically threaten him in front of the whole class. Harry has never seen that expression on Malfoy before, definitely not toward him. That seemed genuine.
Let’s say it is genuine, what does it mean? Does Malfoy want to be civil? Complimenting him just to be civil seemed like a little much. Did Malfoy want to be friendly? Harry doubted that, they hadn’t ever been civil with each other. Let alone friendly.
Malfoy had bullied him and his friends since coming to Hogwarts. He has called Hermione slurs and looked down on Ron for being poor. Why would he even want to be friendly with Malfoy? Did Harry want to be friendly?
Harry found himself by the lake, he sat down and put his hand into the water. The water shined whenever he touched it. “Hi, Harry.” She sat down next to him; she was wearing the flower crown he made her.
“Hey, Luna.” He grinned, he liked talking to Luna, even if people thought she was loony, she understood him. She always did. “The crown looks great on you.”
“Thank you, Harry.” Luna always had this far-off look in her eyes. “I was told you’ll be out here. Is something the matter?”
He was going to ask her who told her where he was, but he knew that she wouldn’t answer the question. “You know astronomy, Luna? Your name, in Latin, means ‘moon’. It’s the name of our moon. I always thought it was the perfect name for her. Your name suits you, Luna.”
“The moon can be shy and quiet. Mysterious and beautiful. But it can also be loud and bold. It shines brightly and changes colors to be seen. I think the moon is an awful lot like you, Luna.”
Luna smiled brightly, “Thank you, Harry! I've always loved the moon.” She took her hand and put it on Harry's arm, “No more stalling, what's wrong Harry?”
Harry sighed; guess he wasn’t getting out of this one. “Can-should someone get a second chance? Even if they were horrible to you, or your friends?” Harry blurted.
Luna didn’t seem surprised by this question; she pulled out a flower crown from her bag. “Hm, I believe people should get second chances. My mother always said that people make mistakes, we’re only human. But forgiveness? That has to be earned and shown through that second chance.”
She leaned over and placed the flower crown on Harry's head. “You should give Draco a chance” she smiled, looking at the flower crown. “You never know what it might lead to.”
Harry wasn’t at all surprised that she knew he was thinking about Malfoy. He nodded, “Okay, I trust your judgment. This will be interesting.” Though, he still wasn’t sure. Luna hummed in agreement.She stood up and held her hand to Harry.
“Come on, we need to head to the great hall. The feast will be starting soon. I must get there before the Nargles eat all the pudding.”
They walked to the great hall, talking, and laughing. Luna was nice to be around. They parted ways to sit at their tables, Harry still wore his flower crown.
Harry sat between Ron and Hermione in the great hall. Which was awkward, they’ve been dancing around each other all year. Ron clearly likes Hermione but won’t take his head out of his arse. Harry couldn’t imagine dancing around his feelings for someone for that long.
The great hall was loud, which was unusual for breakfast, as it was early, and most people were too tired to talk. But the students from Drumstang and Beauxbatons are coming today. Ron wouldn’t stop talking about Viktor Krum. He and Harry talked about Viktor Krum for different reasons. Viktor was attractive, there was no denying it.
Dumbledore stood from his seat; the whole hall was silent. “Please, welcome the lovely ladies of Beauxbatons, and their headmistress, Madame Maxime!” The doors to the hall opened and walked through was the most graceful-looking group of girls he had ever seen. They walked by with their heads held high, perfect posture. They were…pretty. They reminded him of Malfoy.
They danced as they walked in, they wore blue dresses. Butterflies came out of nowhere as they sighed dramatically. One girl did flips while the other twirled. The woman behind them, headmistress Madame Maxime, was very tall. She had short brown hair.
One of the girls that walked close to Gryffindor table looked Ron in the eye. Harry watched as he about melted in his seat. Harry gave him an unimpressed look, Ron shrugged. Harry heard Hermione scoff.
They had sat at the Slytherin table.
Dumbledore stood with his hands raised. Hogwarts went silent. “Welcome, the proud sons of Drumstrang, and their high master Igor Karkaroff!”
The Drumstrang students walked in banging sticks on the ground. Harry slightly flinched at the sound. Each time they hit the ground with the sticks, it would spark. They started flipping, though they were much less graceful than the ladies at Beauxbaton.
Suddenly an owl made out of fire was flying all around the great hall. Students were ducking as the bird soared above them. The owl made its way to the headmaster and disappeared. That was to distract us from noticing Viktor Krum entering the great hall.
“It’s the Viktor Krum! Harry look!” Ron Squealed. He grabbed Harry's shoulders and was shaking him. Harry rolled his eyes as Hermione had to stop Ron from Staring at Krum. Once the Drumstrang students sat at Gryffindor, the feast began.
“That’s a nice flower crown, Harry, where did you get it?”
“Oh, Er-thanks Hermione. Luna made it for me.” Harry looked over at Ron, who was stuffing his mouth and talking to Dean and Seamus. “I want to make you one. It’ll look good with your curly hair.” She nodded her head and looked back down at her book.
After everyone had eaten and dessert had left the table after Harry has eaten most of theTreacle tarts, Dumbledore raised his hand and slowly the great hall became silent. Dumbledore was standing next to a goblet; it had blue fire in it. The goblet was silver, and it has blue Jewels all around it.
“This is the goblet of fire” reasonable name, really. “This will be used for entering the Triwizard tournament. I must remind you; you must be 17 to enter. And you will stand alone. You mustn’t get help from anyone. The goblet will stay in the great hall, put your name into the goblet if you choose to enter.”
And with that, he dismissed the great hall.
***
Sleeping wasn’t easy. Not too Harry. He often lay awake, bored out of his mind. This night was no different. He did everything he could to tire himself out. He opened his side table drawer and pulled out a mirror. “Sirius black” he whispered, even though he had a silencing charm around his bed. The mirror glowed and was warm to the touch. It stopped glowing and Harry saw a familiar face in the mirror.
“Hey, kid. Is everything okay? It’s late.” He had dark circles under his eyes, he hadn’t been sleeping. Harry knew that being in Azkaban did a number on him, just for him to be trapped at Grimmauld place. At least Remus was there to keep him company.
“Sorry Sirius. Did I wake you? I just couldn’t sleep.” Sirius opened his mouth to say something, but the mirror moved and revealed Remus sitting next to him.
“Harry! How’s Hogwarts?” Remus waved at the mirror, Harry waved back.
“It's good. Theirs this Triwizard tournament going on, so no Quidditch. Other than that, I think this will finally be my one normal year at Hogwarts” Harry could only hope.
“Harry, I’ve heard stories about your first and second years. I don’t think a normal year is possible for you.”
Harry, Sirius, and Remus talked for hours, about Hogwarts, about what they were up to now that Sirius was out of Azkaban, and How they plan to clear his name. They talked about how once Sirius has cleared his name, Harry would be able to live with him.
Harry never let himself hope. He never let himself wish for things. When he did, those things always gotten taken away from him. The Dursleys made sure of that. But tonight, he let himself hope.
He would live with Sirius.