Chapter 41

Laying lengthways across the Common Room couch, Atlas hung just over the arm, her body too long to fit on the too-small furniture offered. She made it work though and held her book in front of her face, hair scraping just across the floor as she read upside down, flipping the pages with her fingers as her other hand was preoccupied in stroking Crookshanks curled up on her stomach. The little fiend had been incredibly clingy ever since Summer’s end, not that Atlas was complaining, it had just been an observation of hers.

Atlas was a little annoyed at the moment, with Harry and Ron still boasting about the treat they had witnessed that was Draco Malfoy as a weasel, in her ear, even after two days had gone by. She’d been running an errand for Minerva when she’d happened upon the aftermath of the scene, with Malfoy only just unravelling into his human uglier form. She begged the boys to tell her about it but they’d just left her to suffer in silence, even Hermione wouldn’t speak a word.

Which is why she was sulking, still, after so long, waiting for their free period to end so they could go to their first DADA lesson. That, at least, had lightened her spirits. To the best it could anyway, the other thing that had been nagging her was the lack of news from Sirius, Harry still hadn’t gotten a letter and it had been chewing at the back of Atlas’s mind for a while now, nagging her to send first. She knew she shouldn’t, it was on Sirius’s orders after all, which is why she had refrained for so long but now, she didn’t entirely know.

Didn’t entirely like being uncertain.

She shifted slightly, peering past her book to look over at Hermione who was patiently trying to teach Neville the Scouring Charm to remove the frog guts he’d gotten under his fingernails in his detention with Snape.

She smiled and let the book rest against the lower half of her face, just watching the scene quietly. Hermione certainly looked a little exasperated but she diligently continued, reassuring Neville he was almost there every time the boy would shrink away and give up. Atlas idly wondered when Hermione would ask her to take her to the kitchens, just so she’d have an excuse to be around her longer than the very few hours she saw her throughout the day, only ever really seeing her fleetingly at lunch and silently in their shared room.

It seemed Hermione was going to be exactly as she was during exam season, bombarding herself with knowledge and books without taking any real-time to let herself breathe, even now she was learning by teaching Neville this charm.

“You got a little drool on your chin, Black,” Atlas rolled her eyes and slapped Ginny’s legs with her book, sitting up and disturbing Crookshanks who mewled quietly in protest.

“Shut up, Ginny.”

“Oooo~ she’s feisty tonight. What? Granger not paying you enough attention?” Ginny grinned and Atlas scowled, fully turning in her seat and hooking her arm around Ginny’s neck, rubbing her knuckles into the top of the girls head. “Hey! Ow! Ow! Atlas!”

“Leave her alone, Atlas!” Hermione called with a sigh and Atlas let go, throwing her arms up.

“She started it!”

“Then you end it,” Hermione said and Atlas resigned, Ginny, snorting into her fist and then further sticking her tongue out when Atlas glared at her.

“You’re like a dog to its master,” Ginny laughed.

“Piss off…” Atlas muttered, grabbing her bag and running a hand through her hair.

“Aw come on Atlas! I was kidding around!” Ginny chuckled, jogging to catch up to her. She placed a hand on Atlas’s shoulder just as they exited the Fat Lady’s portrait. “Come on…you’re not actually mad are you?”

“No…” Atlas grumbled and then sighed, leaning her head against Ginny’s shoulder. “I’m just tired and…ok, yes, I’m a little bummed Hermione’s been so busy…” she admitted and Ginny smirked, nodding her head knowingly as she brought Atlas into a hug.

“We’re only a few days into the year Atlas, I doubt her library escapades will take up all of her time.” Ginny offered and Atlas pulled away, throwing her hands up in the air.

“It hasn’t only been a few days for me, though, I spent the entire summer alone and now we’re back at school but I still haven’t been able to see her. It’s even worse!” She groaned.

“Right, I forgot. Uh, well, why don’t you go with her? If you miss hanging around her so much?” Ginny shrugged with a small smile.

“I don’t know. I’m worried she’ll think I’m too clingy…” Atlas sighed and Ginny furrowed her brows, crossing her arms in contemplation.

“Atlas, come on, you know Hermione would never leave you alone, right? Let alone think you’re clingy.”

Atlas looked at her and then down to her feet, chewing on the inside of her cheek. “I know that…”

“So just ask her, ask if you can join her,” Ginny urged, nudging Atlas’s shoulder with a closed fist. The bell wrang in the distance and the portrait opened beside them, The Fat Lady giving them a quick warning before the 3rd and 4th years set off for their lessons. Ginny stayed however and waited with Atlas. “Do it now.”

“Why now?” Atlas asked.

“So I can make sure you don’t chicken out.”

“You little–“

“Ginny, Atlas, why aren’t you going to lesson? I thought you couldn’t wait to see Professor Moody, Atlas?” Hermione greeted and the two momentarily feuding girls stopped, both of them exchanging a look before Ginny nudged Atlas forward. “Everything ok?”

“Uh, yeah, Mi,” Atlas smiled and then sighed. “Look…uh would it be alright if I joined you in the library?”

Hermione stared at her a moment, glancing over to Ginny who was looking around the halls inconspicuously and then back to Atlas with a small sorry smile. “Sorry Atlas, I really don’t want any distractions…I need to get this project done but I’ll hurry and try and finish it today for you so–!”

“No! No! It’s fine,” Atlas straightened and nodded slowly, gaze flitting over to Ginny who just shrugged with a frown. “Cool…no, that’s fine, yeah. Alright, I will…be…going then. Yeah…” she flashed a strained smile.

“Oh, let’s walk together.”

“No, no, I’ll uh…only slow you down,” Atlas waved off, turning and going in the opposite direction. Ginny looked between the two and grimaced, smiling nervously at Hermione when the girl turned her way before running after Atlas. “Merlin that was horrible…” she muttered to herself and Ginny winced, patting the girls back in an act of comfort. She didn’t really know how to comfort Atlas, there was never a set way. Harry would let her lie against him, Ron would give her food and Hermione would cuddle with her. What should she do?

How did Atlas comfort people? Ah, that’s right. Ginny pulled Atlas’s head down and kissed her temple quickly, causing the both of them to stop. Atlas stared at her wide-eyed, Ginny’s cheeks slowly lighting on fire as Atlas steadily broke out into a large grin, that quickly turned into full-bellied laughter.

“Did you just kiss me?”

“I don’t know!? I just did what you do when you comfort people!”

“Oh Merlin, you just kissed me!” Atlas laughed, pointing at Ginny as other students mosied on by, turning and whispering to each other. “Ah, does little Ginny have a crush on me?”

Ginny stomped on Atlas’s foot. “You asshole, you’re like my sister and you know it!”

“I kid! I kid!” Atlas grinned and then hooked an arm around Ginny’s shoulder, pulling her into her side. “Thanks for that though, Cedric does that, always knocks me out of a daze.”

“I didn’t think she’d say no,” Ginny sighed and Atlas huffed.

“Me either,” she mused and then smiled sadly. “Well…she is doing something really important, I wouldn’t want to bother her anyway, so it’s fine,” she shrugged and Ginny rolled her eyes, going to nudge her side but refraining after remembering the girl was still aching from the rabid wolf attack.

“You can just hang out with Harry and Ron. I’d hang out with you but…different years and this is a one-off instance,” Ginny smiled, poking her tongue out. Atlas shook her head in disbelief but soon nodded, the both of them stopping again at a hall leading two different ways. “Don’t let Hermione’s answer bum you out. She’s always been like this, alright? Since the first year, I hear. Even though I only met her when she was a second-year, Ron and Harry told me she wouldn’t leave the library, trying to figure out who the hell Nicolas Flamel was.”

“Thanks, Ginny…again. And you’re right, I can just hang out with Harry and Ron. Harry is literally my god-brother and Ron is close enough to one,” Atlas shrugged.

“So what? Hermione’s your sister? You’re just one big family?”

“What? No, that would be weird,” Atlas chuckled and Ginny cocked a brow. “What? It is weird.”

“Why?”

“Because I can’t find my sister attractive,” Atlas huffed.

“So I’m ugly now?”

“Yes, utterly atrocious to look at,” Atlas answered surely and with a firm nod, Ginny scowled and slapped her upside the head. “Ok! Ok! You’re an attractive girl but like, attractive the same way Bella is…it’s different,”

“Yeah, ok…you’re digging yourself a deeper hole. Now go, would you? You’re going to make me late.”

“Going to make you late?” Atlas said, pulling out her pocket watch, “I’m going to make me late. Look, I’ll see you around, alright Ginny?”

“Yeah, see you Atlas!”

Atlas cast her a quick wave before jogging down the opposite corridor away from Ginny, climbing the stairs to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom as quick as she could, her eyes on her feet the entire time as her hands slapped the caps of her knees with each step. When she came to the top she let out a breath and turned down the corridor, running and skidding so she stopped in front of the hall that led to her class.

Only, the sight that greeted her was certainly not a hallway, but instead, the large form of Professor Moody, staring at her, his fake eye examining her rapidly while his real one fixed solidly on her as a whole.

“Professor!” Atlas yelled, standing straight and holding out a hand. Moody regarded her a second before shaking her hand, nodding and giving her a gruff grunt in recognition.

“You’re Amaya’s daughter.”

“That’s right sir, it’s truly an honour really. My mother wrote all about you in her journals.”

“Her journals?” He said with interest and Atlas nodded, smiling. “What other things are in those journals of hers?”

“Just accounts on all of your adventures and many escapades she had in school,” Atlas told as Moody started moving again, his distinctive clunky footsteps echoing through the corridor, he nodded as a response and pushed the classroom door open, holding it as Atlas ducked inside and thanked him quietly. He entered the room after her, continuing to the front while Atlas stopped beside Hermione, pulling out the chair beside her and sitting down.

“Hey, you…” Hermione whispered.

“Hey,” Atlas nodded back, adjusting her bag under her chair. She didn’t say anything more, leaving Hermione to just stare at her profile in confusion.

“Those books. You won’t need them,” Moody declared with a sort of growl to his gravelly voice. “Put them away,” he ordered and it was done at once, a quiet excitement blanketing the class as Moody read out the register, each and every one of them answering with vigour. “Right then,” He said when Dean Thomas – the last person – declared himself present. “I’ve had a letter from Professor Lupin about this class. Seems you’ve had a pretty thorough grounding in tackling Dark creatures – you’ve covered boggarts, Red Caps, hinkypunks, grindylows, Kappas, and werewolves, is that right?”

Professor Lupin had been in contact with him? That was good, it was very rare ex-teachers would communicate with the ones that took their place. It made Atlas miss the man so much more, it was a shame she couldn’t send him any letters at the moment, she couldn’t wait to see him really. Maybe he’d come and watch the Triwizard Tournament with her in Sirius’s place. That would be nice.

“But you’re behind – very behind – on dealing with curses, well…most of you,” Moody said, fixing his magical eye on Atlas, knocking her from her daydream. She looked at him curiously. “So 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 -“

“What, aren’t you staying?” Ron blurted.

Moody’s eye turned from Atlas and over to him and in the most bizarre of twists, he smiled. It was contorted, scary and deeply unsettling but at the same time, it seemed to put an apprehensive Ron at ease.

“You’ll be Arthur Weasley’s son, eh?” Moody said. “Your father got me out of a very tight corner a few days ago…Yeah, I’m staying just the one year. Special favor to Dumbledore…One year, and then back to my quiet retirement.”

He gave a harsh laugh, and then clapped his gnarled hands together, startling Atlas slightly as she shifted in her seat.

“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. I’m not supposed to show you what illegal Dark curses look like until you’re in the sixth year. You’re not supposed to be old enough to deal with it till then. But Professor Dumbledore’s got a higher opinion of your nerves, he reckons you can cope, 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 Brown, when I’m talking.”

Lavender jumped and blushed. She had been showing Parvati her completed horoscope under the desk. Apparently, Moody’s magical eye could see through solid wood, as well as out of the back of his head. Atlas smiled in awe, glancing over at Lavender who blushed further under her eye and then back to Moody who was now staring directly at her, eyes narrowed.

“Which of you can tell me how many Unforgivable Curses there are?”

“Three, sir…” Hermione spoke tentatively.

“And they are so named?”

“Because they are unforgivable. The use of any one of them will-“

“Earn you a one-way ticket to Azkaban, correct,” he nodded, a piece of chalk writing the words upon the board behind him. “So, which curse shall we see first? Weasley! Give us a curse!”

“Er,” Ron began slowly, “my dad told me about one…Is it called the Imperius Curse, or something?”

“Ah, yes,” Moody nodded appreciatively. “Your father would know that one. Gave the Ministry a lot of trouble at one time, the Imperius Curse.”

Moody got pushed himself to his uneven feet, opened his desk drawer, and took out a glass jar. Three large black spiders were scuttling around inside it, he unscrewed the cap and reached inside, catching one of the spiders, and held it in the palm of his hand so that they could all see it. He then pointed his wand at it and muttered, “Imperio!”

The spider leapt from Moody’s hand on a fine thread of silk and began its own balancing act, walking on its hind legs, acting almost human-like. Moody made it dance, cartwheel, jump, anything he thought of it did and everyone laughed – everyone except Moody, Atlas and Hermione, even Harry looked a little disturbed at the puppet-like display. Atlas watched through a grimace, wincing every time she heard a light crack at her ear, watching as the spider forcefully bent itself in ways its limbs shouldn’t go.

“Think it’s funny, do you?” Moody growled. “You’d like it, would you, if I did it to you?”

The laughter died away almost instantly.

“Total control,” Moody said quietly as the spider balled itself up and began to roll over and over. Atlas held her breath, finding the sight incredibly disturbing. “I could make it jump out of the window, drown itself, throw itself down one of your throats…

“Years back, scores of witches and wizards claimed, that they only did you-know-who’s bidding because of this curse, but here’s the rub: How do we sort out the liars?” said Moody, and Atlas recalled an entry, though short, describing a few accounts of claims made by high officials in one of her mother’s journals. “I tell you, it was 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 snapped, and everyone jumped.

Moody picked up the somersaulting spider and threw it back into the jar.

“Anyone else know one? Another illegal curse?”

To Atlas’s surprise, the only hand she saw rise to the air was Neville Longbottom’s. This perplexed her because the only class in which Neville usually volunteered information was Herbology which was easily his best subject. Though, even he looked surprised at his own daring.

“Yes?” Moody said, his magical eye, rolling right over to fix on Neville.

“There’s one – the Cruciatus Curse,” Neville said and Atlas frowned, biting her lip as she leant against her palm and stared at her desk, glancing at Neville once before sighing and turning back to the lesson. She should have known.

“Your name’s Longbottom?” he said, his magical eye swooping down to check the register again. Neville nodded nervously, but Moody made no further inquiries and instead glanced over at Atlas again for the nth time that class, seemingly searching for something in her unusually cold eye. Turning back to the class at large, he reached into the jar for the next spider and placed it upon the desktop, where it remained motionless, apparently too scared to move. “Get up here, Longbottom…come on don’t be afraid.”

“Professor, I don’t think–“

“Now, now Miss Magianima, let the boy decide,” Moody interrupted and Atlas held her tongue, looking over at Neville as the boy slowly rose from his seat and ventured to the front of the class. Atlas knew Neville wouldn’t have been doing that if he felt he had a choice, he felt trapped, he always did in class and he never liked to go against a teachers order. He glanced over at her momentarily and she stared back, carefully sinking back into her own seat.

“The Cruciatus Curse,” Moody said. “Needs to be a bit bigger for you to get the idea,” he said, pointing his wand at the spider. “Engorgio!” He raised his wand again, pointed it at the spider, and Atlas looked into her lap, knowing the sound was to soon deafen her sensitive ears, “Crucio!”

She couldn’t help herself, some gross curiosity drew her eyes upward and she lay her eyes upon the spider’s contorting body, it twitched horribly, rocking back and forth as if insane and the shrieks it made, unheard to regular ears but clear as day to Atlas, had her bawling her fists beneath her desk. Moody did not remove his wand, and the spider started to shudder and jerk more violently —

“Stop it!” Hermione yelled, “Can’t you see it’s bothering him? Stop it!”

Atlas looked up at Neville and indeed saw the haggard state of the boy, he had gone pale, entire figure shaking as his fist, pale balls of fire, remained solidly at his sides. He was staring down at the spider with wide horrified eyes, panting ever so slightly.

Moody raised his wand. The spider’s legs relaxed, but it continued to twitch. “Reducio,” he muttered, and the spider shrank back to its proper size. He put it back into the jar. “Pain,” he said softly, almost wistfully. “You don’t need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can perform the Cruciatus Curse…That one was very popular once too.” He turned on Hermione and Atlas, walking toward them with the final of the three spiders. “Could you give us the last Unforgivable Curse, Miss Granger?”

“I think that’s enough Professor,” Atlas muttered under her breath, looking at the spider, stoney like. Everyone turned to her, Harry and Ron, a row behind her, Neville who was still stood frozen at the front, Hermione next to her with specks of water in her eyes. Everyone watched the exchange unfold.

“Perhaps you’d like to tell us the last curse Atlas? Me and your mother have watched it in action plenty of times, so I’m sure there are accounts of such things in those little journals of hers,” Moody urged and Atlas clenched her eyes shut, gathering her nerve before staring straight back at Moody.

“Avada Kedavra.”

“Yes…” He said, another twisted smile on his twisted lips, “the last and worst. Avada Kedavra…the Killing Curse,” he placed the spider on her desk and raised his wand, Atlas wincing as she braced herself, “Avada Kedavra!”

There was a flash of blinding green light and a rushing sound, as though a vast, invisible something was soaring through the air – instantaneously the spider rolled over onto its back, unmarked, but unmistakably dead. Several of the students stifled cries, Atlas among them as she let out a shuddering breath. She could just feel the dark magic wafting off of the remains of the poor creature, watching as the tainted corpse was swept to the floor from her desk like dirt.

“Not nice,” Moody said calmly. “Not pleasant. And there’s no countercurse. There’s no blocking it. Only one known person has ever survived it, and he’s sitting right in this room.”

Everyone turned to Harry while Atlas remained staring at her desk, a dark pattern of ash where the spider had once been, she gulped and wiped at her eyes, blinking a few times and taking a deep breath through her nose. Soon enough, Moody had started speaking again and Atlas had to pull herself from the abyss and back into the classroom. With a little bit of help from Hermione who clasped her hand gently and gave it a light tender squeeze.

“Avada Kedavra’s a curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behind it – you could all get your wands out now and point them at me and say the words, and I doubt I’d get so much as a nosebleed. But that doesn’t matter. I’m not here to teach you how to do it.

“Now, if there’s no countercurse, why am I showing you? Because you’ve got to know. You’ve got to appreciate what the worst is. You don’t want to find yourself in a situation where you’re facing it. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!” he roared, and the whole class jumped again.

“Now…those three curses – Avada Kedavra, Imperius, and Cruciatus – are known as the Unforgivable Curses as I told you at the beginning of this lesson. The use of any one of them on a fellow human being is enough to earn a life sentence in Azkaban as Miss Granger said. That’s what you’re up against. That’s what I’ve got to teach you to fight. You need preparing. You need arming. But most of all, you need to practice constant, never-ceasing vigilance. Get out your quills…copy this down…”

They spent the rest of the lesson taking notes on each of the Unforgivable Curses. No one spoke until the bell rang – but when Moody had dismissed them and they had left the classroom, a torrent of talk burst forth. Atlas was one of the rare few to remain silent, looking down at her wand as she exited the class and glancing over her shoulder, catching a slight glimpse of Moody downing a bottle of something before the door closed, blocking her view of him.

Why did he act like that? That wasn’t the Moody her mother had described. Had he really changed that much over the years of his retirement? What had happened to him to make him so horribly vile. Especially to Neville, he knew what happened to the boy.

Atlas sighed and glanced upward, catching sight of Neville walking down a long passage dazedly. She tucked her wand away and went after him, reaching out to place a hand on his shoulder. “Neville…?”

“Oh…hello,” He muttered and then turned, that same horrified and teary-eyed look he had on his face throughout the rest of the lesson. Atlas sighed and pulled the boy into a hug, holding tighter when the boy reciprocated and heaved a quiet sob into her shoulder, momentarily knocked out of his daze. “It was horrible, Atlas…”

“I know…” Atlas eased, patting his back.

“I don’t — I don’t want them to ask questions…I can’t — I can’t –“

“It’s ok Neville, nobody will ask questions,” Atlas smiled, pulling away to wipe a few tears away with her thumbs. “And even if they do. Don’t answer, you have no obligation to answer their questions, alright Neve?”

“Alright,” He hiccuped, wiping at his eyes with that horrified expression slowly etching back onto his face. A few footsteps sounded behind them and Atlas turned to see her trio walking toward them, Hermione at the head holding clear concern in her eye. “Oh hello,” Neville said, his voice much higher than before. Atlas closed her eyes tight and turned away, rubbing down her face. “Interesting lesson, wasn’t it? I wonder what’s for dinner, I’m – I’m starving, aren’t you?”

“Neville, are you all right?” Hermione said, looking to the boy and then to Atlas’s back.

“Oh yes, I’m fine,” Neville nodded. “Very interesting dinner – I mean lesson – what’s for eating?”

“Neville, what -?”

Another set of steps sounded behind them, odd clunking ones and Atlas turned to see Professor Moody limping toward them. All five of them fell silent, watching him apprehensively, but when he spoke, it was in a much lower and gentler growl than they had yet heard.

“It’s all right, sonny,” he said to Neville. “Why don’t you come up to my office? Come on…we can have a cup of tea….”

Neville looked even more frightened at the prospect of tea with Moody. He neither moved nor spoke. Moody turned his magical eye upon Harry.

“You all right, are you, Potter?”

“Yes,” said Harry, almost defiantly.

Moody’s blue eye quivered slightly in its socket as it surveyed Harry. Then he said, “You’ve got to know. It seems harsh, maybe, but you’ve got to know. No point pretending…well…come on, Longbottom, I’ve got some books that might interest you.”

Neville looked pleadingly at Harry, Ron, Hermione and finally Atlas, appealing to the guilty conscience she already had in regards to Neville and his past. “Professor, maybe you should just let Neville go.”

“I understand your concern Atlas but I’m sure you and I both know why I did that, why I had to do that,” Moody said and Atlas turned her gaze to the floor. She had heard of the conditioning he put his partners through. The ones who had fears? He’d throw their fears straight at them. That was what he did and it worked. Most of the time. But Moody’s students weren’t his partners and it was dangerous he seemed to have that mindset.

Before Atlas could respond, they’d already gone, leaving Atlas alone with her trio. “What was that about?” Ron asked.

“I don’t know,” Hermione said, looking pensive.

“It sounded like you knew, Atlas,” Ron said and the three turned to her. Atlas blinked a moment before sighing and walking past the three of them to dinner.

“It’s not something for me to tell.”