The entire class of Slytherins jumped as Mad-Eye Moody slammed his fist into his desk. Defence Against the Dark Arts had never been this intense.

Drew expected great things after Moody had Transfigured Draco into a ferret and bounced him around, causing him to sulk around for hours, and she was not disappointed.

The professor's scarred face twisted as he glared straight at Torch, "Are you paying attention, boy?"

Duncan dropped his comb with a clatter, face nearly as white as his bleached hair. He'd apparently thought he'd been safely out of view behind Goyle's large figure. "Y-yes, sir."

They all heard the clunk of Moody's clawed wooden leg as he paced the front of the room, "So...do any of you know about the Unforgivable Curses?"

There were a few murmurs of assent, and most people nodded.

"Of course you do," Moody grinned, and his face only contorted further. "Who would like to name them?"

The Slytherins were quiet. Drew, of course, found out about them in third year when she was talking about Sirius Black with Cyndee. She didn't really want to say them, though.

Isabell had her hand raised. When Moody called on her, she shot a worried glance at an unnaturally uncomfortable Eliza and answered, "Imperius Curse, Cruciatus Curse...Killing Curse."

"Ah yes," Moody's eyes had an odd glint in them. "Very good." He trudged to the back of his desk and opened a drawer. He took out a container with what resembled three dead spiders. He put it back and pulled out another jar, this time with live ones.

Moody caught one and held it out for them to see. "Imperio."

The class watched in stunned silence as he made the spider roll over, then swing on a web from his fingers like a pendulum. It dropped onto the desk and tapdanced.

It was funny for a few seconds until Drew saw how completely not in control the arachnid was.

Someone at the back giggled, and another person elbowed her into silence.

"Total control," said Moody quietly as the spider balled itself jump up and down. "I could make it rip its own legs off, throw itself into a fireplace...Cast it on a fellow human and you could make them do anything...anything you want..."

Mercifully, the professor released the curse and tossed the spider back into the jar. His fake eye whizzed about, focusing on every one of them as he spoke. "The Curse can be fought, and I'll teach 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 again.

"Now..." Moody said, "the next one. The Cruciatus Curse. What does it do?"

This time Isabell did not volunteer the information, so Malfoy said, "Pain. It makes the victim experience excruciating agony."

"Yes, correct. It may sound quite fun...but it's really not."

Moody brought out the second spider and cast the Enlargement Spell on it, but before he could cast the curse Eliza shrieked, "Stop!"

The class froze, staring at her.

Eliza only turned up her nose, "I just don't see why this is necessary, that's all. Can't we go straight to learning the defence?"

Moody seemed annoyed, like he'd wanted a much better reaction from this group of students. "As I said before, it is crucial that you see firsthand what you're dealing with. Now if no one else has any objections, may I continue?"

No one responded, so he pointed his wand at the spider, "Crucio!"

At once, the spider's legs bent into its body; it rolled over and began to twitch horribly, rocking from side to side. It made no sound, but Drew felt that if it had a voice, it'd be screaming. Moody didn't remove his wand, and the spider started to shudder and jerk more violently.

Drew heard a scraping noise beside her and noticed that Wilby scratching at his desk with his nails. He caught her eye and mumbled, "I don't like this class."

Feeling bad for him, she held out her hand, and he held it gratefully.

Moody released the spell and said gruffly, "That was the Cruciatus Curse. Dark Wizards out there will use this spell to get information, or just to get some sick entertainment. But the worst spell of the three is the Killing Curse. No Shield Charm or countercurse can be used against it."

He brought out the third spider, and aimed his wand at it. In the front, Malfoy recoiled. Moody's glass eye noticed, but he continued on, "Avada Kedavra!"

With a flash of green light, the spider fell dead, dropping to the floor completely unblemished.

* ° * ° *

After classes, a few of the Slytherins gathered in the common room to compare what they'd learned in DADA and their thoughts. Malfoy and his lackeys were not present, so the discussion was somewhat balanced.

Drew listened to the conversation, Wilby next to her on the couch. Apparently, everyone in fourth year and above had been given the same DADA lesson. Anyone younger had learned about hexes.

"At this rate," Graham was saying, "he's killed 48 spiders, assuming that the ones he traumatized all died too. I'd say this is good news."

"His desk drawer is just full of jars and jars of dead spiders," Millicent snickered. "Did you see the way he cast those curses on them? He liked it."

Drew nodded. "I bet the lesson was different for other Houses. Seriously, he told us that casting the Cruciatus Curse 'may sound fun'. Er, to whom? Just him, obviously."

"Maybe he just likes teaching," Xavier said indifferently. He was lying on the floor and no doubt mourning the absence of Quentin and Carolina. "And he's an Auror, so he's probably killed loads of people. I bet it's fun to catch a murderer, and that's just what he's experiencing."

Above him, the Gracelyn fiddled with a tear in the sofa. "I asked Professor Moody after class what we're doing later on. He said he's going to cast the Imperius Curse on us so we can practice resisting it."

Drew stared, "But that's illegal. He literally said that in class."

Gracelyn shrugged helplessly, "Yeah, but it's not like he'll abuse it. He's Dumbledore's friend."

Not yet done with his tirade, Graham demanded, "So what, Gracie? The Ministry's just going to let some retired and delusional Auror control us? Take away our free will? Are we supposed to be okay with this?"

"From a practical perspective it makes sense," Xavier argued, talking to the ceiling. "I guess to some it'd be insensitive and disturbing, but hey, you're learning something interesting that could save your life. Just go through it; you'll all be fine."

"You don't even care," Graham accused. "A few of us are traumatized 14-year-olds with parents who've actually used the Unforgivables."

Belatedly seeing that a few students were genuinely upset, the Head Boy said, "Really though, don't worry. Moody's well-respected and he's not going to do anything to you guys. And if you don't want to be part of it, you don't have to be. He'll let you leave."

Drew turned to Graham, one eyebrow raised suspiciously, "By the way, what's all this about free will, Montague? You were the one so unkeen to let me on the Quidditch team."

He had the decency to be embarrassed, "I guess I just didn't...like you." He shrugged, "I mean, first of all, Beaters are usually built really strong. You weren't. I tend to lose myself when it comes to Quidditch. And I made assumptions, too. You beat up a lot of people and were rude to my sister. People called you crazy violent, and you hexing the hell out of Crabbe only proved to me that you had a massive temper. You were once friends with Eliza Skull, and, well, there was the rumour that Wilby's father's a Death Eater. I thought you were a terrible person, attracting bad people."

Drew was stunned to silence. It had never occurred to her that Montague's dislike of her was completely justified, or that his behaviour to her on the pitch two years ago had no relation to her not looking the part.

"Oh," she said eventually. Then, amazingly, she apologized without even thinking. "Sorry. Sorry for thinking you were a misogynistic and egotistical jerk, and for er, being pretty hard to get along with overall."

Graham grinned, "Apology accepted. I'm sorry too."

"Also," Drew said, turning to Gracelyn, "sorry for thinking you were a dolt. You're still kind of irresponsible, but a good person."

Gracelyn turned red, "Oh, er, it's alright."

Xavier sat up then, and they turned to him with surprise. "You are being sensible," he said, nodding at Drew. "Maybe now I'll have fewer migraines." He lay back down and resumed looking morose and miserable.

"I think you should go to Hogsmeade and meet Quentin soon," Drew told him. "You're genuinely starting to worry me."

"I'm actually banned from Hogsmeade."

She spluttered, "Wh-what? Why?"

He only grumbled something and flipped over, facing Gracelyn's sofa and away from the rest of them.

Wilby nudged her then, and Drew gazed at him, "Yes?"

He was grinning slyly at her, his mouth nearly forming a w, and she groaned, "Stop. I gave two apologies; you don't have to be so proud of me."

Her friend continued to look proud of her.

Drew tried to change to subject, now embarrassed that she, Drew Getaway, had said sorry to not one person, but two. "Will, you're going to be okay with the next lesson?"

He nodded, "Yeah. It was Crucio that really got to me. The way the poor spider twitched..."

* ° * ° *

After a couple of weeks, Moody indeed announced that he'd be casting the Imperius Curse on each of them in turn. "I expect much from this House. A huge part of Slytherin is about independence and determination, after all."

"But you said it's illegal, Professor!" Isabell protested. "Won't this get you in trouble?"

"Dumbledore wants you taught what it feels like," said Moody, his magical eye swivelling to her unblinkingly. He addressed the rest of the class, "If anyone would rather learn the hard way — when someone's putting it on you so they can control you completely — fine by me. You can leave."

Eliza strode out the exit, and the students watched her go.

Moody stared at Isabell, "Are you going to follow?"

"N-no," she whispered. "I want to learn this."

As Moody had Torch go to the front of the room, Drew wondered what experience with the Unforgivables could be so terrible that Eliza would suddenly have the daring to walk out of a class.

Drew dug her nails into her arm. Great, now she was feeling sorry for Eliza, the girl who'd never been her friend and had broken her heart like a piñata.

It was weird, seeing Eliza and not feeling total outrage like before. It was like the events of her summer had washed out all the pent-up emotions she'd disguised and buried.

When the class ended, Moody was quite satisfied, Eliza's withdrawal forgotten.

Malfoy, Drew, and Wilby had all managed to resist the Curse to some degree after a few attempts.

Moody patted Malfoy approvingly on the shoulder (the ferret flinched with fear), then asked Wilby, "Your name's Blue?"

"Yes, sir," Wilby confirmed without a trace of unease.

The professor scrutinized him, "You remind me of someone. I'm not sure who."

Wilby made himself seem mildly curious, "A few people have said that. Are you completely not sure?"

Moody stared at him, like he was trying to read him. "I believe it was someone I knew a long time ago. Don't worry about it."

"As for you," Moody turned his eyes — one blue and one dark — on her, "I expect great things from you."

* ° * ° *

"Xavier's right — it wasn't as scary as I thought it'd be," Pansy said after class, "and it was informative, but Moody is so paranoid! You'd think Sirius Black is still in the castle by the way he acts."

"Constant vigilance," Drew whispered in her ear.

Pansy shrieked and laughed, but she cut herself off abruptly when she saw who'd spoken. She gave her an uncomfortable smile as Malfoy shot Drew a bitter glower and dragged Pansy away.

Drew sighed. She'd made up with Montague, but Pansy was slowly losing respect for her, Malfoy's beliefs bleeding into her.

The blond turnip had been in a mood the whole class, and Drew had an inkling that it wasn't because he'd gotten turned into a ferret. Drew wondered how exposed to the Dark Arts he was, with a Death Eater for a father.

A large group of Gryffindors were rushing by, and they were talking rapidly about something.

Drew caught a few phrases:

"...Triwizard Tournament..."

"...and Beauxbatons..."

"Next week!"

"Snape can't poison us!"

Drew spun to her three friends. Blaise nearly smashed into her and barely righted himself before he did. She ignored him, "The other schools are coming next week. You know what that means? I'm entering the Tournam —"

"You can't," Cyndee moaned. "Entering would probably be impossible —" 

"— and is part of my middle name!"

Wilby shook his head, "I don't like your middle name. Drew 'Breaking and Entering' Getaway has no flow."

"You have no flow."

"Okay."

Blaise sighed to display his exasperation, but nothing was going to stop her. Drew would get herself entered if it was the last thing she did.