Chapter 26
"Alastar Moody." The strange teacher pauses to write his name on the board. "Ex-Auror, Ministry Malcontent, and your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I'm here because Dumbledore asked me to end of story, goodbye, the end. Any questions?" I secretly roll my eyes, or try to at least. Mad-eye or Moody keeps eyeing three different people with his mechanical eye. Parker, Harry and I. Every time he looks over at me, I grow more and more uneasy.
"When it comes to the dark arts..." He pauses, looking around again at the class. "I believe in a practical approach. But first, which one of you can tell me, how many unforgivable curses there are?"
"Three sir." Hermione answers from beside me.
"They should make more." I comment. Moody eyes me for a second, then says, "Why's that?"
"Well, I've seen many spells that should be deemed unforgivable." I reply.
"I suppose you've probably seen many of those. Does anyone know why they are so named?" Moody moves on but I heard the threat in his words. He knows who my mother is and he will use that against me. No one really knows that my mother is a deatheater, except other deatheaters. My mother tries to keep this perfect image up for herself. The perfect healer.
"Because they are unforgivable. The use of any one of them will..." Hermione replies to Moody's question.
"Earn you a one way ticket to Azkaban. Correct." Moody finishes for her, while writing again on his chalkboard. Even though I know what's going to happen, I don't like where this is going. I look down at my paper, the only thing on it is the date. September 4th. I'm trying not to focus on how Moody's mechanical eye keeps looking around, then stopping. All I want to do is get out of this class.
"Now the Ministry says that you are too young to see what these curses do but I think different. You need to know what you are up against." He continues writing on his chalkboard, something that I can't see. "You need to be prepared. You need to find another place to put your chewing gum, besides the undersides of your desk, Mr. Finnigan." Seamus makes a smart remark about Moody, which makes him throw something at him. I hold my breath watching this whole thing play out.
I feel like throwing up. The nagging feeling has gotten worse, day by day. And it seems to grow worse when Moody is around. I have a bad feeling about him. And not just because I know that this isn't actually Moody. My head isn't helping the nausea at all. Each day after classes are out, Snape sifts through my memories while I use all my strength to push him out of my head. I've gotten close several times but each time I grow more and more exhausted while my head feels like it's going to crack open.
"So, which curse should we see first?" Moody mumbles, a crazy looking crossing his face. "Weasley!"
"Yes?" Ron replies.
"Stand." Ron stands up, fear etched across his features. If I wasn't so nauseous, I would've laughed at him but right now I couldn't care less.
"Give us a curse." Moody mumbles in an almost threatening way. I zone out, focusing on pushing my memories into a dark corner of my mind.
Hermione taps my shoulder, bringing me back to the present.
"Are you alright? Your eyes started to glaze over like you were in a trance."
"Yeah. I'm fine." I bite my lip and watch as Moody flings an enlarged spider at people. It lands on Draco's nose which causes him to freak out. A smile forms on my face, but that's as far as it goes.
Moody threatens to drown the spider before placing it in his hand and standing in front of Neville Longbottom. It's cruel to watch. You can see it on Neville's face that he knows what Moody is about to ask. Neville stands up, slightly shaking from fear. All I want to do is give Neville a hug, or reveal who Moody actually is right here. Though I doubt anyone would believe me.
"Professor Sprout tells me that you have an aptitude for herbology."
Neville nods his head. "There's the- um- cruciatus curse."
"Correct! Come, come!" Moody says as he places the spider on his desk, making Neville watch up close. He casts the curse and Neville flinches. The spider writhes in pain, a piercing squeal comes from it. I grimace, though Neville's grimace is worse than mine.
"Stop it!" Hermione and I say at the same time.
"Can't you see it's bothering him! Stop it!" Tears start to flood Hermione's eyes as Moody stops the curse and walks over to Hermione and I's desk. He places the spider in front of us and asks one question.
"Perhaps you could give us the last unforgivable curse Ms. Granger?" Hermione shakes her head and refuses to look at the professor.
"And what about you Ms. Wilhite? You should know all about this curse." I shake my head the same way Hermione did.
"The killing curse." I mumble without looking at the deatheater in front of me. As soon as he says the spell a memory flashes into my mind.
2 years ago, before I moved to Lafoi Manor. The day my DR dad died. I watch from behind a counter, my dad is looking at something close to the front door. With a quiet snap my mom appears in the room, right behind my dad. She takes out her wand and a flash of green light comes from it. My dad drops to the floor and my mom disappears with another snap.
I blink and the room returns to its normal state. Moody is talking about how we will be learning more about the imperious curse and how to counter it the next time we go to his class. He dismisses the class, which I am very glad about. I grab my stuff and practically run out of class.
I stop in a nearby hallway and try to calm my breathing.
"When did you learn to run so fast?" Draco says as he appears next to me.
I smirk. "When I had to get your ass away from the quidditch world cup." He rolls his eyes and leans against the wall.
"Are you ok? You seemed a bit freaked out in there." I nod my head and internally smiled. So he was paying attention to me. That's cute.
"I have bad memories with those curses."
"Your's or the ones you scripted?" He asks. Anger boils in my stomach.
"Mine." I turn around and walk away from him, though I hear his footsteps following me.
"What's your problem?" I stop to turn and face him.
"What's yours? I keep asking you if you have a problem with what I told you. You keep saying no, but it's clear that you do." I yell.
"Oh yeah? And how exactly is it clear that I have a problem with it?" He yells back.
"Oh lets see. You flinch every time I go near you. You practically avoid touching me at all costs. That question you just asked was very accusatory by the way." I pause and take a deep breath, while the headache in the back of my starts to grow. "If you have a problem with it, just tell me please. I don't want to end up arguing about this again. I have a headache. If you want to talk I'll be in my room for the rest of the day."
I get to my dorm quickly and immediately plop onto my bed. I close my eyes and will myself to go to sleep.
"You skipped my class today, Wilhite, but you still show up to this." Snape says as I walk into his office.
"I wouldn't have skipped today if I had something to relieve the headaches you give me. It feels like my mind is being split apart."
"That's what the Dark Lord will do if he gets a hold of you." He yells as he slams his hands on his table. I flinch and take a step backwards, away from him. "What do you think will happen if the Dark Lord is able to access your mind."
"I know what will happen. If gets into any of our heads, we're fucked. I'm doing this so I can protect Parker and Ethan. And everyone else. I don't think you know how that feels." I argue.
"I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't know how it felt." He replies in a calm but dangerous tone.
"You don't know how it feels." I reply, seething. "You only ever wanted to protect Lily. You can't say that I don't know what I'm talking about." His eyes narrow and a strong piercing pain runs through my head. I push against him and force my memories to the farthest corner of my mind. The memory of Draco sitting, crying in his bedroom moves to the front of my mind. That day when I used my animagus form to try and cheer him up. I push it away and another one forcefully comes forward. Our argument today. Then the day I told Draco about shifting.
Suddenly, I am back in Snape's office and he is fuming.
"Who else have you told?"
"Just Fred and Draco. I trust them." I reply, panting.
"Does Dumbledore know you've told them?" I shake my head.
"No. They were going to find out eventually."
"You're lucky we can't obliviate them. Get out!" I nod my head and leave the room as quickly as I can. My mind swirls with the realization that maybe I shouldn't have trusted Draco with the shifting information. If it came down to him having to pick between me and his family, he would choose his family in a heartbeat. Would he hand me over to Voldemort if his family was threatened? Probably.
I run up to my room and try to calm my breathing before Parker notices that I'm panicking. I grab some clothes and quickly change in the bathroom. Then, I hop in bed and try to go to sleep. After a bit of tossing and turning, I finally manage to get my mind to shut off and end up falling asleep.
"I wouldn't do anything to hurt you." Draco's voice calls from the darkness that is surrounding me. He steps forward, a wicked smirk on his face. "You know that right?"
"I know." My voice doesn't sound like my own. It sounds weak, frail. Suddenly, a look of horror crosses his face. I want to turn around and see what he's looking at but I'm frozen where I am, on my knees.
He points to me. "It's her. You can look through her mind. She is a shifter." Tears start to pour down my face. He's betraying me.
"I hope this doesn't come as a surprise." A snaky voice says from behind me. "Crucio!" I scream out but nothing hurts worse than the look on Draco's face. His face morphs from horror to a smile. A smile that says he doesn't regret what he did. A smile that says he meant to hurt me.
I hear the door slam close, waking me up slightly. I curl up tighter, knees to my chest. Tears pour down my face and a sob escapes my throat. It's not real. He would never hurt me. The door opens again and I feel someone pull me close to them.
"Shh. It's ok. I'm here. You're ok." Draco whispers in my ear as he starts running his finger through my hair.
"Please don't do it. Please don't tell anyone." I mumble in fear. "Please."
"Hey, it's ok. I'm not going to hurt you. Princess, it's me."
I nod my head and my mind starts to clear. The tears start slowing down, but still don't stop.
"Look at me please?" I turn to look at him, his grey eyes are filled with worry. "I'm not going to tell anyone, if you are talking about what I think you are. I wouldn't do anything to hurt you." I flinch as he repeats the words he says in the dream.
"When it comes down to it, if you had to choose between me and your family, you'd choose them?"
"Felicty," he whispers against my cheek. "You are my family."