The Fallen Angels

Saying I was surprised by Abigail wasn't enough. Slytherin, Voldemort's daughter, and best friends with Draco Malfoy. And yet she was one of the sweetest girls I know. And she was good at keeping secrets. After class on Monday I found her and asked what she had seen about me and when she answered with everything, I felt my blood run cold.

"Don't worry though, Juliet. I won't tell anybody. Cross my heart," she smiled broadly.

"Thank you," I breathed out. "I do plan on telling our friends, it's just..."

"Now's not the time. Hey, I get it," she shrugged. "I didn't tell Harry or anyone my father is Voldemort until last year. I get it."

I hugged her, "Thank you!"

She giggled, "Yeah, yeah. And watch the twins, they're sneaky when it comes to secrets."

"Thanks," I smiled.

Three days later and her promise was still kept.

Becoming friends with her and Hermione was easy. And we all agreed that one day we'd get Star to talk and date Fred.

Thursday morning I sat down next to Hermione in Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Next to us were Harry and Ron. Behind them was Abby and Draco. And behind Hermione and I was Star.

"Alastor Moody," snapped Moody. He grabbed a piece of chalk and began to write on the board. "Ex-Auror. Ministry Malcontent," he turned back to us, "and your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I am here because Dumbledore asked me. End of story, goodbye, the end. Any questions?" The room was quiet. "When it comes to the Dark Arts, I believe in a practical approach." He eyed us, "But first, which of you can tell me how many Unforgivable Curses there are?"

Hermione shifted in her seat, a frown planted on her face, "Three sir."

Moody nods and turns to the board, "And they are so named?"

"Because they are unforgivable. The use of anyone of them will-"

Moody cut Hermione off. "Will earn you a one way ticket to Azkaban, correct." He spun to look at us, "The Ministry says you're too young to see what these curses do." He slaps the desk, "I say different!" He turned back to the board. "You need to know what you're up against! You need to be prepared. You need to find another place to put your chewing gum besides the underside of your desk, Mr. Finnigan," he shouts.

We all turned to the Irish boy, Hermione introduced as Seamus Finnigan.

Seamus scoffs, "No way. The old codger can see out of the back of his head."

Moody whipped around and threw the chalk at Seamus. "And hear across classrooms!" He took a breath. "So which curse shall we see first?" He looked at Ron. "Weasley!"

Ron jumped, "Yes?"

"Stand." Ron obeyed. "Give us a curse."

"Well, my dad did tell me about one," Ron says slowly. "The Imperius Curse."

Moody nodded, "Oh, yeah, your father would know all about that. Gave the Ministry quite a bit of grief a few years ago. Perhaps this will show you why." He went to his desk where jars at insects sat unopened and opened one up.

"Hermione?" I asked nudging the frightened girl. "What's wrong?"

"These curses shouldn't be performed in a classroom," she hissed.

"Hello." Moody smiled picking up a spider out of one of the jars. "Lovely little beauty." He pulled out his wand and pointed it at the spider. "Engorgio! Imperio!" smiling he moved his wand and the spider followed landing on Dean and Neville's desk at the front. And then made it jump onto Crabbe's head. "Don't worry. It's completely harmless." He moved it onto one of the Patil twins' hands and then loomed the spider over Ron's head. "If she bites...She's lethal!" He laughed dropping it on Ron's head. Draco laughed at him while Abby stared in horror.

“What are you laughing at?” asked Moody, making the spider land on Draco's face. Abby screamed in horror, pushing her chair away from Draco. Draco yowled in horror and the boy sitting behind him tried to get the spider off his face, with no avail. Harry and Ron sat clapping, laughing at Draco. Abby was leaning against the wall, her hand on her heart. By now the whole class was laughing. “Talented, isn’t she? What should I have her do next? Jump out the window?” He asked flicking her over the to the window. “Drown her,” he asked holding the spider over a bucket of water. He then brought the spider back to his hand and stopped the curse. He then turned to the class. “Scores of witches and wizards have claimed that they only did You-Know-Who’s bidding under the influence of the Imperious Curse. But here’s the rub: How do you sort out the liars?” he paused. “Another, another.” About half of the class, including myself, then raised their hands. But the only one Moody wanted was a boy sitting at the front of the class. He had big buck teeth and ears that stuck out quite far. “Up, up. Come on. Longbottom, is it?” The boy nodded. “Up.” The boy stood. “Professor Sprout tells me you have an aptitude for herbology.”

The boy nodded. “There’s the...um...The Cruciatus Curse.”

“Correct, correct. Come, come.” Moody said motioning Longbottom to the front of the class. “Particularly nasty.” Moody set down the spider and then pointed his wand at the spider. “The torture curse. Crucio!” The spider then started to scream in pain. Longbottom stared at the spider his face contorting into horror from what to seem to be bad memories.

Hermione then turned to Moody and shouted, “Stop it! Can’t you see it’s bothering him? Stop it!”

Moody turned to look at her and then looked back at Longbottom. He then stopped, picking up the spider. He then walked over and placed the spider on Hermione’s book. She looked like she was about to cry. “Perhaps you could give us the last Unforgivable Curse, Miss Granger.” Hermione shook her head. “No? Avada Kedavra!” There was a flash of green light and the spider flipped over, dead. “The Killing Curse. Only one person is known to have survived it and he’s sitting in this room.” Moody then walked over to Harry and stood in front of him. He took out his flask, taking a big swig before to the front of the class to dismiss us.

I followed behind Ron and Hermione with Harry walking next to me, down the spiral staircase.

“Brilliant, isn’t he? Completely demented, of course, and terrifying to be him the same room with but he’s really been there, you know? He’s looked evil in the eye.”

Hermione turned to him, quite upset, “There’s a reason those curses are unforgivable. To perform them in a classroom...I mean, did you see Neville’s face?” Harry reached up and hit Hermione in the arm and pointed to Longbottom who was leaning against the wall, staring at one of the stained glass window.

Hermione touched his arm, “Neville?”

Moody came barging down the steps, pushing Ron, Harry and I out of the way. Ron stumbled back down onto the next step but not first shoving Harry’s back right into me. His neck was so close to my face I could feel the blood running through his veins. I felt my fangs extend down and I quickly hid my face. I pulled out my bag of blood pills and popped some into my mouth. I kept my head down for a moment, ‘till my fangs retracted back into gums. I lifted my head up to see Harry staring at me. When I met his eyes I could tell he had seen something but he didn’t know what.

“Son?” asked Moody. “You alright?” Neville nodded. “Come on. We’ll have a cup of tea. I want to show you something.” He said as he turned, walking back up the steps. Slowly Neville followed after him.

We looked at each other and then turned to continue our way down the steps. Harry kept his eyes on me for a few moments longer than the others but then turned to follow.

I knew then that I wouldn’t be able to keep my secret for long.