The Outcasts Of Hogwarts

Chapter 5 The Effects of Curses

Amaris was soon back in the rhythm of life at Hogwarts. She enjoyed her lessons, especially Care of Magical Creatures and Potions wasn't nearly as bad this year. Though everything she attempted to make did have a tendency to either boil off into revolting smelling bubbles or spill over the cauldron and start dissolving the desk. She awaited her first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson with mixed feelings. On the one hand, she couldn't wait to learn more about a subject she enjoyed but part of her felt like it would be a betrayal to Lupin to enjoy someone else's teaching. She tried to brush that thought away, doubting her old teacher cared much about what she thought. 

But the more she heard about Professor Moody, the more she wondered whether she was going to enjoy his teaching. Especially after Matt and Kim's experiences. Amaris and her friends met everyday after class, their usual table in the library always empty for them. When Matt and Kim had arrived the day that they had both had their first lesson with the new teacher, they both looked shaken.

"What happened to you two?" Amaris asked.

Matt shook his head, wide eyed. "That teacher," he paused to blow out a breath, "he would never pass muggle safe guarding standards."

"Huh?"

"So it seems the rumors I've been hearing about Professor Moody are true, then," Steffan said with casual surprise.

"Rumors?" Matt said, "I didn't here any rumors. You could have warned us!"

"Warned you about what?" Amaris asked.

Matt started gesturing with his hands but seemed unable to formulate his thoughts into words.

"Unforgivable Curses," Kim said quietly, "He performed the Unforgivable Curses."

Amaris gaped at her for a moment, "What? In his lesson? Both his lessons."

Matt had found his voice, "It was only a spider,"

"Only?" Amaris said, definitely at a volume too loud for a library. "He controlled, tortured and took the life of something as a display, it hardly matters what it was."

"Amaris," Steffan said so calmly that it halted Amaris's rage, "maybe save your complaints for the teacher, not your friend."

Amaris only then realised that she had stood up and was leaning across the table at Matt. She sat back down with a mumbled apology.

"It's just, that's the kind of lesson that my dad would have me learn. I thought Hogwarts was going to be better.” She looked ar Steffan, “Didn't you have lessons like this?"

"Like it, I suppose," Steffan said slowly.

Suddenly, Amaris didn't want to talk about it. It was one thing to mention something to someone who also understood, it was very different to actually explain it. "Nevermind," she said.

None of the others pushed the matter. 

All of that considered, Amaris was quite nervous when it was time for her first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson. Not that you'd be able to tell by looking at her as it had manifested into a determined defiance. She'd made a decision that she wouldn't be rattled by whatever the Professor had planned. Her resolve had lasted until the Cruciatus curse and then it had taken everything she had not to run out of the room.

When the class finally finished, Amaris packed up her things and left without a word to anyone. Her world had shrunk down to one thing, one person she needed to see. She walked down flight after flight of stairs, barely acknowledging those she passed. She walked to the depths of the castle, away from classrooms or dorms, to the back doors of the kitchen. The general noise of fires and crockery and overlapping conversations seeped through the heavy doors as a muffled hum. She stood at the door for a moment, trying to decide the etiquette of the situation, before knocking.