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FINISHING UP THEIR BREAKFAST, the three girls walked together to the entrance hall before bidding each other goodbye. While Serena Mallard had Care of Magical Creatures with Slytherins as her first class of the day, Magnolia and Ramona both had Charms. Serena didn't complain, as she had Alicia Spinnet and Angelina Johnson to suffer the pain of having a class with Slytherins first thing in the morning.

Her next block was a free period, where Magnolia relived every detail of their Charms class, much to Ramona's dismay. "Cedric is particularly good at this subject. Charmed Ramona almost instantly-"

"Oh, shut it!"

The trio went back up to the castle for lunch after having spent their break outside by the lake. Serena, who normally hated going to class, was unable to sit still at lunch. "We've got D.A.D.A next, with Mad-Eye Moody!" she exclaimed, scarfing down her steak and mashed potatoes in anticipation.

Ramona grimaced. "I don't know if we'll be enjoying this lesson as much as you think, Serena. I have a feeling and it's... not the best."

The two didn't seem to take Ramona's warning seriously. "Moody is definitely off his rocker, but there's no doubt he knows a whole lot about the Dark Arts," said Magnolia as they stood when they heard a loud bell echoed through the Great Hall, signalling the beginning of afternoon lessons. Serena grabbed her friends' forearms and ran through the halls.

"You two better hurry, or we won't get good seats!" Serena squeezed her way through the queue outside Moody's classroom, coming to stand beside Fred, George, and Lee at the front.

Fred grinned down at her. "Don't you look ecstatic."

"Of course! Mad-Eye Moody is our professor!" Magnolia and Ramona shook their heads, watching Serena bounce on her feet in anticipation.

"Still think he's a nutter-" George was cut off by a smack on his arm by Serena.

Suddenly, the door whooshed up, and the students all scrambled to get the best seats. Satisfied that she and her friends snatched up the three chairs right in front of the teacher's desk, they all pulled out their copies of The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection, waiting patiently.

A minute later, they heard a set of distinctive clunking footsteps down the corridor, no doubt belonging to Moody. He finally entered the room, his scarred face and wooden peg for a leg as frightening as ever.

He stomped toward his desk, taking a seat. "You can put those away, those books. You won't need them." Immediately, every student stuffed their textbooks back in their desk, though Fred, George and Lee didn't have them out to begin with.

Professor Moody then took attendance, his normal eye focused on the list of names while his blue one was flying over the students as they answered whether they were present or not. Serena would be lying if she said she wasn't slightly creeped out, though still amazed.

"Right then," he said after he called the last name, "I've had a letter from Professor Lupin about this class. Seems you've had a pretty thorough grounding in tackling Dark creatures, is that right?" The class nodded in agreement.

"Well, now that you're all sixth years, it's time for you to learn how to deal with curses. I'm here to bring you up to scratch on what wizards can do to each other. I've got one year to teach you how to deal with Dark-"

"You aren't staying?" Serena blurted out before she could stop herself.

Both of Moody's eyes settled on the curly-haired girl, who was torn between feeling anxious or excited, as he smiled, or what Serena thought was a smile. He looked even more twisted than before, but she felt a little at ease knowing he was at least capable of being friendly. "You'll be Elliot and Maisie's daughter, eh? I've worked with your parents and aunt, Esmae, three of the greatest Aurors the Ministry has seen." Serena grinned as Moody gave a grating laugh. "Yeah, I'm staying just the one year. Special favour to Dumbledore. . . . One year, and then back to my quiet retirement.

"So- straight into it. Curses. They come in many strengths and forms. Now, according to the Ministry of Magic, I'm supposed to teach you countercurses and leave it at that. But Professor Dumbledore's got a higher opinion of your nerves, and I say, the sooner you know what you're up against, the better. How are you supposed to defend yourself against something you've never seen? A wizard who's about to put an illegal curse on you isn't going to tell you what he's about to do. He's not going to do it nice and polite to your face. You need to be prepared. You need to be alert and watchful. You need to put that away, Miss Endoh, when I'm talking."

Haruka Endoh, a Hufflepuff with long dark hair, jumped from her seat in surprise. She had been showing her friend, Nicola Dodworth her class schedule underneath her desk. Serena looked impressed. 'So that magical eye of his can see through solids? Neat.' 

Moody leaned against the front of his desk. "So... do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by wizarding law?"

Quite a few hands rose into the air, including Magnolia's lazy one. Moody pointed at the brunette. "Magnolia Mulberry, isn't it?" When she nodded, Moody said, "Well, which curse do you know?"

"My parents told me about the Imperius Curse," she answered leisurely.

"Ah, yes," said Moody appreciatively. "Your parents would know that one working in the Improper Use of Magic office. Gave the Ministry a lot of trouble at one time, the Imperius Curse."

Moody plodded around his desk, opened a drawer, and pulled out a glass jar. Serena, who had been leaning forward in her seat, instantly drew back. She wasn't afraid of much, but she hated spiders with a passion. Moody stuffed his hand in the jar and pulled out a struggling a spider before pointing his wand at it, muttering, "Imperio!"

The spider, under the full influence of the Imperius curse, jumped from the Moody's callused hand. Everyone laughed as it swung back and forth as if it were on a swing. With a flick of his wand, the spider began to cartwheel in circles before it went into a tap dance. "Think it's funny, do you?" Moody growled. "You'd like it, would you, if I did it to you?"

The laughter ceased immediately. "I could make it jump out of the window... drown itself... throw itself down one of your throats..." Moody said quietly, demonstrating each action. Serena shivered; she couldn't imagine being that helpless, that vulnerable.

"Years back, there were a lot of witches and wizards being controlled by the Imperius Curse," Moody said. "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 Imperius 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 suddenly barked, making everyone jump, with Ramona nearly smacking her hand on her desk in fright.

Serena looked to her right and saw Lee and twins a few desks away, identical grins on their faces as Moody said, "Anyone else know one? Another illegal curse?"

Serena hesitated. She knew one. One her mother refused to talk about, but one of the Aurors at the Ministry told her and Iyla anyway, having claimed that, 'They need to know what truly happened to their father and aunt.' 

And so the girl slowly rose her hand. Serena was normally so strong and confident, but today, she couldn't even look Moody in the eye when he pointed at her to answer. "The... the Cruciatus Curse."

Moody gave her a long look before he nodded. Serena watched as the professor picked up the second spider from the glass jar and placed it on the desktop, the insect so still it seemed afraid. After increasing the size of the spider, Moody pointed his wand at it once more, and Serena knew what he was going to say next. "Crucio!"

At first, the girl couldn't look away. It was as if she was transfixed on the twitching insect. Its large body was rocking back and forth in unbearable pain, and Serena knew that if it could scream, the spider would let out a blood-curdling cry. She was unable to look away, shoulders tense, an expression of pure horror on her face.

"Stop it!" Ramona shrieked.

Magnolia glared at Moody. "Can't you see it's bothering her?"

Fred and George immediately turned to see Serena frozen in her spot, staring in fear at the spider now laying peacefully on the desk, but it was still twitching. Fred didn't know what came over him; he very nearly jumped out of his seat, about to make his way over to Serena. He didn't know what he would say, if there was anything to say, but that didn't matter. All Fred wanted was to never see such pure terror in her eyes again, to shield her from whatever was haunting her.

"Pain," Moody softly said after he reduced the size of the spider, and put it back in the jar. "You don't need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can perform the Cruciatus Curse... That one was very popular once too. Right... anyone know any others?"

Ramona rose a shaky hand. "Avada Kedavra," she whispered, ashamed she'd even volunteered to answer.

Everyone looked uneasy as Moody gave another twisted smile. "Ah, yes, the last and worst. Avada Kedavra... the Killing Curse."

As he reached into the jar for the third and final spider, Serena had a pretty good idea of what was going to happen next. Her heart stopped in trepidation, and no matter how much she wished and begged herself to turn away, she couldn't move her eyes away from the scene in front of her.

"Avada Kedavra!" Moody bellowed. A brilliant green light burst from the tip of his wand, hitting the spider a second later. The class gasped, watching as the insect rolled onto it's back, motionless and silent.

Mad-Eye Moody calmly tucked his wand away. "Not nice. Not pleasant. And there's no countercurse. There's no blocking it. Killing a wizard is easy, but making sure they stay dead is harder. You can torture someone all you want but once you're hit with the Killing Curse, that's the end of it. Nothing can bring back the dead."

Serena felt a shudder rock her shoulders. She finally looked down, focusing instead on her shoelaces in an effort to stop tears threatening to spill out. She and her sister had learned sparse details of her father's and aunt's deaths from other Aurors when she would visit the Ministry, but the conversation was always cut short as her mother ushered her children away. Though, for some reason, no one ever mentioned who committed such a heinous crime. It was as if the identity of her family's killer was an invisible line that would never be crossed.

As much as she tried, Serena was never able to envision the face of their murderer, a face she could hate without regret. Instead, she spent night after night imagining their deaths, able to picture them bloodied and bruised, lying still in the middle of a dark street. She could see their faces, eyes closed as if they were already dead. They were calm because they knew their fight was over. They knew what was coming next. 

That was right before a blazing green light flashed before Serena's eyes. She usually woke up after that.

She's always wondered if there was a way they could have survived that night. If there was even the slightest chance they might've been alive today. Deep down, Serena knew that wasn't possible. It was just was Mad-Eye Moody had said: Killing a wizard is easy, but making sure they stay dead is harder. Perhaps that's why after Elliot and Esmae Mallard were tortured beyond repair, then killed by that evil green light. 

It was a precaution. A safety measure. Because whoever killed them wanted to make sure they stayed dead. 

And they did just that. The Killing Curse was irreversible, like the final scene of the play or the last chapter of a book.

But that didn't spot Serena from imagining a world with them still in it.

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Author's note:

Hey lovelies! I hope you liked this chapter! To be honest, I really enjoyed writing it. Even though it's a tad dark :)

I hope the story isn't going to slow for you all. Let me know, is the pace too slow, fast, or just fine?

I'm still trying to edit my other chapters. I make a lot of mistakes writing at 3am. ✨

Well, I hope you all have a marvellous Monday! With much love,

~Lena