"Today" Moody growled, as he began his usual prowling around the classroom, "we will be discussing the darkest of Magics, the foulest of spells… the Unforgivables… who can name me one?"
Draco slowly raised his hand, earning a nod from the man, "The Imperius."
"Good, probably figured that out from your father eh Malfoy? Him and his Death Eater buddies all plead innocent when the Dark Lord fell last time, paid for nice little tickets out of Azkaban for a bit of gold."
The boy held back his snarl, which was ignored by the crazy-eyed man.
"NEXT!"
"Crucatius." Hermione mumbled from nearby, earning an uncomfortable shifting from Neville.
"Correct, the torture curse. Heard your parents woke up from their nap last a few years back Longbottom, quite amazing considering they are the first to do it. The last one then?"
The room fell quiet, none of the students wanting to either upset Harry, or to say the name of the foulest of the three.
"No? No volunteers… very well then, how about our resident genius then. Potter, the last of the Unforgivables, and the one you are probably most familiar with eh?"
"The Killing Curse." Emerald-eyes stared back into those of the older man, daring him to make any further comments.
"Right… now then as many of you probably know the use of any of these on a human being carries a life sentence to Azkaban, save for during special war-time situations. Even then they are not viewed in… pleasant ways. The Dark Lord himself was an avid practitioner of them. One of the reasons he is so feared."
"Don't you mean was feared professor? The man is dead after all, killed by an infant I hear." Harry called out, earning a snarl from the disguised murderer.
" Is as in currently feared Potter, don't you notice how people still flinch at his name?"
"Because they are used to doing so and taught their children to follow. If you walked up to a child who had never heard of him and said his name they would probably just laugh, it is a rather… silly name isn't it?"
"You know nothing Potter, you did not see his rise to power, the Magics he wielded…"
"What? The ability to kill someone? Oh please, a first year could kill with a water-creation spell in the right situation. The ability to take a life does not make one powerful, if so then Muggles are far superior to Voldemort."
Moody sneered, advancing on the seated boy slowly, his wooden leg being the only sound save for the concerned breaths of the other students. " Muggles superior to the Dark Lord !? I see you have lost your mind Potter, he was clearly greater than they were. They are insects to him!"
Harry smiled, leaning in closer to the man, who had stopped mere inches from the desk. "Careful" he whispered softly, so that the other students remained unaware, "your Death Eater side is showing Crouch."
The professor reared back, eyes wide and darting about as if expecting an ambush from the staff or Aurors, when nothing happened for several moments his gaze returned to the teen still seated in front of him.
"Homework tonight, write an essay on how to defend yourself against one of the Unforgivables… class dismissed."
...
Hermione Granger made a mental note to record the date in her calendar, for the significance could not be understated. For the first time in her life, perhaps the first time ever, Harry Potter looked actually surprised and not his normal 'I am acting surprised but we all know I am clearly not and probably knew this was going to happen three weeks prior' expression.
No, her Lord had actually halted while writing and turned to stare at her, all because of one simple comment.
"Is something wrong Harry?"
He blinked a few times, before slowly shaking his head, "No… I am just a bit… surprised…"
'A bit' she mentally giggled, before forcing herself back to the casual expression she had chosen. "By what? I just mentioned that Daphne looks very nice today."
"No, you did not. Your exact words were 'I wouldn't mind seeing her without her robes on'. That is not even close to being the same."
The bookworm gave a shrug before nonchalantly returning to her homework, trying desperately not to either smile or glance up at him, because she was sure his gaze still lingered on her. She had to admit that Hedwig's plan was rather ingenious. If Harry believed that his actions, and feelings, were unacceptable they would just show that it was perfectly natural to lust after others. If that led to indulging well then so be it.
Hermione, however, was well aware that her own efforts were amateur at best. She was never going to win an award for acting. Luna, on the other hand, was so damn convincing that the bushy-haired Witch had to convince herself that it was an act. Sometimes she still wasn't completely convinced. Speaking of which the blonde happily skipped into the room before making her way over.
"Hello my Lord, hello Hermione."
....
Want to read more exciting chapters, then join my P*atreon right now and get access to 60+ premium chapters.
Link: pa#treon.com/KittyLovesMilk (Remove the #)
Free members get 2+ advanced chapters for free.
JOIN NOW