Author's Notes: If I made money from this, it wouldn't be on

Chapter 49: Lessons to Learn

It was a busy Sunday planned for Harry, which began with a trip back down to the Chamber of Secrets to nab himself one of the broken-off fangs, carefully putting it in a thick leather bag (found in the Room of Requirement, naturally). He trusted Fleming would be talented enough to recognize a basilisk fang when he saw one. The alarm clock he found would be put to its first use because Fleming insisted the meeting be early in the day, before he had to get back to work, combined with the fact that France was an hour ahead. After the meeting with Fleming, he'd have the afternoon with Sirius, where he could practice apparition. Ron would join him and Hermione then, because he wasn't inclined to wake up early to get to Hogsmeade by breakfast time just to talk about potions. Finally, he saved the last few hours at Hogsmeade for Hermione's birthday dinner, which Ron and Sirius would hopefully stay for.

As Harry stepped into the Three Broomsticks, he asked Madam Rosemerta if Fleming had arrived yet. "He's reserved a room upstairs, but he hasn't arrived, Mr. Potter. You're welcome to wait inside." Harry and Hermione went upstairs and ran into Sirius, who was stepping out of the shared bathroom for the overnight guests.

"Harry? I thought we weren't meeting until this afternoon."

"I'm meeting someone for business. Why are you still here?" Harry responded. "Didn't you go home?"

"Nah, too much hassle. And I never liked my home anyway; the inn is much more comfortable choice if I'm going to see you two days in a row. What's this business meeting of yours?"

"I need to learn potions and Snape won't teach me, so I'm trying to convince a good potions master to teach me," Harry said.

"Ah, you're better off without Snivellus anyways. Do you want an adult there for the discussion? I could do something officially as your godfather!" he offered.

"That'd be great, Sirius, but I think you should put some proper clothes on first," Harry told him. Sirius looked down before he realized he was still in his bathrobe. With an aloof grin on his face, Sirius sauntered back to his room while Harry pointed out the room where they'd be meeting Fleming.

Exactly when the clock struck nine, Fleming walked in through the door. "It's good to know there are others who appreciate punctuality," he said, eyeing Harry, Hermione, and Sirius.

Harry stood up to shake his hand and introduce everyone to Fleming. "I'm Harry Potter. This is my girlfriend, Hermione Granger, and my godfather, Sirius Black."

"Floyd Fleming. Let's cut to the chase, shall we? Time is money. I suppose my reputation led you to seek me as a tutor, even though I don't normally teach as a profession. You've offered some extremely rare ingredients for me in exchange. Can you show me proof?"

Harry pulled out the leather bag and laid it out on the table. "I hope you can tell what this is," he said, smiling. The look on Fleming's eyes told Harry all he needed to know, but he watched in silence as Fleming pulled a few tools from his bag, casting a few spells for further analysis.

"A basilisk fang… with trace amounts of venom still on it," he breathed out. "This is indeed an ingredient I have difficulty acquiring."

"That's… that's seriously a basilisk fang, Harry?" Sirius asked, shocked. "You really need to tell me more about what you're getting up to at school these days."

"So I suppose you're satisfied with the sample, then? There's an entire basilisk's worth of material, of course, if you'll agree to tutor Hermione and me," Harry said, motioning to Sirius to calm down.

"Wait, Harry. You really mean the whole basilisk?" Sirius interrupted before Fleming could respond. When Harry nodded in response, Sirius turned to the potions master. "There's nowhere else in the world you could get these kinds of ingredients. I think that they deserve to become apprentices."

Harry leaned over and whispered, "What's the difference, actually?"

"Tutors really only have to teach the school curriculums or whatever is required. An apprentice gets to learn above and beyond that, including the potion master's unique brews," he answered. "In the old days, apprentices would generally inherit the businesses as well, but then somebody invented franchising…"

"Quite correct, Mr. Black, but there are two problems with your proposal. First, I already have two apprentices studying under me, and I have no time to oversee two more. Secondly, payment is not my primary concern when taking apprentices. Skill is."

"How about a compromise?" Hermione asked. "We'd definitely like to learn more about potions than the standard Hogwarts curriculum. Could you just teach us a few of your specialties?"

"No, that I simply something I can't do. My recipes are not to be tossed back and forth with abandon, and all my past apprentices have sworn this knowledge to secrecy and only used with my personal approval, at least until I designate an heir to my businesses. How about this? I will tutor you beyond your NEWT levels, but only in generalized techniques; enough to leave you only a few steps away from becoming potion masters yourselves. If you have proven your ability, and my current apprentices have mastered the arts themselves, I will complete your education by swearing the two of you as my next apprentices in line. All this is conditional on harvesting the basilisk you claim to have, of course. Does that sound fair?"

Harry, Hermione, and Sirius huddled together in a group discussion before finally agreeing. Over two years' worth of material was more than enough for them to learn, and they had no idea if Mr. Fleming's potions would be of any use to their particular mission, in any case. General potions expertise would be far more helpful, as well as medical potions if they could negotiate it out of him. "Alright, it's agreed. There are a few particular potions we want to learn, but we can discuss those later. Naturally… if we're trading in… er… basilisk parts, you don't want a written contract lying around, do you?"

"I see you're a little more well-versed in the ways of the world than the average teenager, Mr. Potter."

Harry smiled. "This means I also won't be showing you the basilisk itself, of course. If everybody knew how to access it, it wouldn't be much use for bartering, would it?"

"Do you know how to properly harvest the head crest, Mr. Potter?" Harry shook his head. "Then proper dissection technique, harvesting, preservation, and handling of ingredients will be an excellent place to begin our lessons. This fang is worth enough to cover the first several lessons, and I expect the crest to be delivered more meticulously than in a simple leather bag," he said disapprovingly, but not without some hope in his voice.

"Will meeting twice a week suffice? Are you willing to skive off Potions and sneak out to learn potions properly, Hermione?"

"There's no need to sneak out, Harry. Personal tutors are allowed into Hogwarts, and there's plenty of empty classrooms within the castle. It's standard practice, mostly with Slytherin and Ravenclaw families. It's all documented in Hogwarts: A History."

"Of course it is," Harry said. "Well then, are those times convenient for you? First class on Monday, and just before lunch on Thursdays."

"Monday? Then we begin tomorrow." Fleming agreed, and they all shook hands on the deal. Just before they left, though, Fleming asked Sirius, "You said your name was Sirius Black… as in the British noble family of Black?"

"Yes, in fact, I'm the head of house. Why do you ask?"

"A few years ago… well, more than a few, I have to admit, I attempted to establish a brewery and apothecary here in Britain, but the market was too tightly controlled by several families…"

"The Blacks being one of them, I presume."

"Yes. Tell me, does the Black family still control the Philalethes Concoctions Company? I hear they've made no interesting developments since the discovery of Veritaserum. If I were to take the reins of the company, I can promise it would be quite profitable for the both of us…"

"I'll be honest, I only recently came into my inheritance of the family, and I haven't had time to go over my family holdings… My father and I never really got along, you see, so it was a surprise that I inherited anything at all. I'll send you a letter next week, how about that? Harry and I have the rest of the afternoon for some quality godfather-godson bonding, so if you'll excuse us…"

After a hearty breakfast, they met with Ron in the Shrieking Shack and Sirius got ready to give his first apparition lesson to the trio. "I still can't believe you want to learn apparition when you're still fourteen. I can't believe I'm the one teaching you! Okay, let's see if I remember…"

"Wait, you don't remember how to apparate?"

"Ah, don't worry, it's like riding a broom. You do it a few times and you never really forget," he told them. "Just let me check."

"Wait, Sirius… how long has it been since you last apparated? Didn't you apparate to get here?"

"Flooed to the Three Broomsticks. And an international portkey to the ministry from France. I spent a lot of time running around as a dog when I was in France…"

"I think we should pick up some dittany before we begin, just in case," Hermione suggested. Fifteen minutes later after a trip to the local apothecary, they were ready to start again.

"Okay, so let's begin with a demonstration," Sirius said. "I'll just apparate to the other side of the room." Harry and Hermione held their breaths as Sirius disapparated with a pop. Ron didn't seem surprised, however, since his parents had done it plenty of times with him. The fact that Sirius didn't reappear on the other side of the room caused them to panic, until they heard some thumping from upstairs.

"It's okay! I'm fine! I just didn't picture the house properly, that's all!" Sirius said as he stepped back into the room. "I think this is a good time to go over the 3 D's of apparition, the first of which is Destination. You really have to know where you're going before you apparate. That also means you might accidentally apparate into a place you're more familiar with than the place you actually want to go, but you'll get over that with practice. The process is pretty easy- just picture the location in your mind. I want all of you to practice that- the more you can picture accurately, the better."

For the next few hours, they didn't end up staying in the Shrieking Shack, since they weren't actually apparating. Instead, Sirius told them to describe, in detail, various places around Hogsmeade like Zonko's, Three Broomsticks, Honeydukes, the path that led from town to Hogwarts, and other locations they should have been familiar with. They quickly learned from this exercise how little attention they truly paid to the details of the places they visited so often. After getting tired of walking Ron asked, "So, how soon until we can actually start apparating?"

"Patience, patience," Sirius said. "I haven't even finished going over the theory yet! There's still more to do next week, but I'm famished. Let's call it a day and have a late lunch." Not to mention I need some more practice before I teach any more, he thought.

"What are the other D's of apparition?" Harry asked. "You never finished explaining."

"Err… Discomfort and Don't splinch yourself."

"That doesn't sound right…" Hermione said. "Wasn't it supposed to be Determination and Deliberation?"

"You can go with that, if it works for you. I never bothered looking up what Deliberation meant but I still got it. As long as you know what you're doing, where you're going, and what to expect, it's a piece of cake. Next week, I'll take you all on a side-along so you know what it feels like. Took me ages to get used to the feeling."

"I'll say… I never liked apparition with my dad until I was eight," Ron informed them. "I still don't like it, but if I get to do it myself that's a whole different story."

"And not splinching yourself is really the key to apparition. You could end up three towns over in the wrong direction, but if you didn't splinch yourself, you can always try again."

"But isn't Determination what keeps people from splinching themselves?" Hermione asked.

"Maybe if you're determined enough to ignore that squeezing feeling. I'm just telling you what works for me."

As Harry, Hermione, and Ron walked back to the inn for their meal, Sirius kept popping ahead, apparating several steps at a time. It annoyed the teens a little, much to Sirius's delight, knowing that even after they learned to apparate they'd never be able to use it in public. "I wish he'd stop doing that. Seriously, he's less mature than we are," Hermione huffed.

"Oh, come off it, Hermione. If I could apparate, I wouldn't be bothering with waiting for those pesky stairs at Hogwarts to line up properly all the time," Ron said.

"You can't apparate in Hogwarts! How many times have I told you, it's in…"

"Hogwarts: A History, we know," Harry cut in. "But at least we won't have to take an hour-long walk from the gates to get to Hogsmeade."

"We still can't do that if we're going to be seen," Hermione said. "It's illegal! We'll get in trouble, and not just with the professors."

"Well, we can do it from one of the underground passages to the Shrieking Shack. Nobody will see us. We just need to figure out where the wards end underground so we can apparate safely."

"Why didn't I think of that?" Sirius said suddenly from behind, startling all three of them. "I wouldn't have had to waste so much time dragging Wormtail over to the shack back in June…"

"You mean dragging me," Ron grumbled.

"Hey, I said I was sorry. I tried not to hurt you too badly," Sirius barked out humorously. "At least you were gripping Wormtail so hard that he couldn't escape if he tried, so thanks for that. Oh, and I'll get you that owl by next week."

The prospect of finally receiving his own owl brightened Ron up immensely, but Sirius's attention was quickly diverted to Hermione. "So it's your birthday tomorrow, right? I'll ask Rosmerta to whip up a cake for you faster than two wags of a dog's tail."

"Oh no, that's not necessary, Sirius…" Hermione remained bashful, trying to discourage Sirius from continuing to act like a hyperactive teenager. Then again, he had good reason to celebrate.

"Nonsense! You're Harry's friend, and any friend of Harry's is a friend of mine! Now, do you like chocolate?"

Harry was smirking behind Sirius, silently mouthing, "Don't fight it." Ron was practically salivating at the thought of chocolate cake.

Hermione sighed. "Alright, but just the cake."

"What do you mean just the cake? There's the rest of the meal…"

"Which I'll cover," Harry said. "I have to do something for her today, too."

"I thought you didn't have any money left?" Ron gave Harry a questioning look.

"I only have pocket change left. I can buy my girlfriend a nice meal, at least." As they stepped into the dining section of the inn, Harry led the group towards one of the more secluded tables.

"You have no money left, Harry? How did you manage that?" Making sure there was nobody around, Harry explained his financial situation in more detail with Sirius, along with the problem of the horcruxes. There were still several more to go, and Harry couldn't afford more cursebreakers to get at them. After a long-winded explanation, Sirius responded with only a puzzled look and a simple question. "You mean Dumbledore wasn't the one who got me freed?"

"What? No, he had no idea until Pettigrew was taken to court. He was surprised that I was there. Did he actually take the credit for that?"

Sirius thought for a while, but ended up answering, "I guess not… he only implied it. After my trial he said something like, 'I only wished that I could have given you your freedom earlier,' as I left."

"Bill was the one who did most of the work. He helped scout out Voldemort's hideout, contact Kroyer's company for other cursebreakers and the hitwizards," Harry explained.

"Then I really have to give your brother more credit, Ron. So Dumbledore didn't actually do anything at all other than his job as the Chief Warlock?"

"According to Malfoy, he's not even doing that job properly," Hermione said. "I suppose you haven't been keeping up with the news since your release?"

"I guess I should, since it was a newspaper that motivated me to break out of prison," Sirius said. "But enough about that! Here comes the cake!"

Serious discussions were put aside as Madam Rosemerta presented them with a small chocolate cake with a single candle in the center. After a cheerful song of "Happy Birthday," Hermione blew a small puff to extinguish the candle. The flame kept burning, so she blew harder, which only turned the flame green. Another long breath caused the candle to emit blue sparks. Naturally, a finite charm only caused the candle to change colour as well. "Alright, Sirius, what's the trick?"

"Say your birthday wish out loud before you blow it," he said.

"No! That ruins the whole point of the wish!"

"Come on, just tell us. Oh, it must be something dirty, right? Right?" Sirius and Ron both snickered, but Hermione caught a glint of hopefulness in Harry's expression.

"Oh, you're not getting away with that so easily," she warned Harry. "I wish that Harry would give me a neck rub every night before bed. Forever." She then quickly blew out the candle.

"Does that candle actually enforce wishes?" Harry asked.

"Not at all." They all had a good laugh and Harry promised to talk Hermione down from forever to one week as they ate their dessert before ordering their meal proper. The rest of the day was a much more private celebration than Hermione's last fifteenth birthday. Harry gave her the repaired, and charmed, teddy bear while Ron picked up a box of Honeyduke's finest choclates as they left Hogsmeade. As curfew sounded, Sirius was reluctant to leave, as he would be returning home to a screaming portrait, a disrespectful house-elf, and a lot of unhappy childhood memories. He inadvertently gave them one last laugh when he attempted to apparate from the main doors of Hogwarts, dazing himself when he bounced off the anti-apparition wards. They finally parted ways as Filch came to lock up and give detention to the stragglers.

"Now, before we begin, can you tell me what is the first step in brewing any potion?"

Harry and Hermione had an entire classroom to themselves with Mr. Fleming, and looked at each other with amused smirks. In perfect unison, they replied, "Tie up loose robes and hair," and proceeded to do just that, quickly working their way into Fleming's good books. The lesson was much like their first class lesson with Fleming last time around, with the focus on safety and handling of potion tools and ingredients, but in much more detail, since there were only two of them to teach. Of course, since he was being paid in basilisk parts, they went over the easiest of harvesting techniques- the external organs and structures (especially the basilisk crest) took up a large portion of the first lesson. Their skill with the basics definitely impressed him.

"Well, I'm glad that Potion education in Britain hasn't completely neglected the focus on safety as I've been led to believe," Fleming stated as the lesson wrapped up.

"Actually, we learned most of that from studying on our own. The Hogwarts Potions professor never taught us that," Harry said, hoping to once again to rid Hogwarts of the greasy nuisance.

"Is that so? How does he manage to teach the class without any permanent injuries, I wonder? He must be watching the class like a hawk, but prevention is always easier and more effective than protection, as they say."

"Well, Madam Pomfrey is a very good healer," Harry said.

"Yeah, she fixes Neville right up every time he flubs a potion. How many times has he been to the infirmary?" Hermione bounced Fleming's attention back to Harry, catching the hint.

"This year? Twice, I think, so I guess he's getting better. Last year was still once a week, wasn't it?"

Fleming made a mental note to check with the witch in the infirmary before he left the castle. Perhaps he would even stay until lunch to observe a potions class himself to see if his two pupils were exaggerating. If they weren't, that would be very concerning for his future plans. Even if he could strike a deal with Mr. Black in setting up a new brewery business, it would all be moot if he couldn't find any decent brewers to run it. If he had to train and screen all the employees himself, he'd waste so much time he could simply make better profits staying in his core markets on continental Europe. Then again, there was something right here that could help ease the transition and prepare the British market quickly…

"Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, I have an extra task for you so long as I will be tutoring the two you. Consider it… homework." Hermione perked up at the idea- any homework from Fleming would be more productive than Snape's, at least. Harry just assumed Fleming wanted him to harvest some more of the basilisk. Neither of them were prepared for his assignment. "I would like the two of you to teach to the other students what the… official potions professor has been remiss in during his lessons. It could be a student association or club, voluntary for others to join, of course, but please try to teach as many as possible what I am teaching you."

"Teach? I'm not sure if I can…" He didn't think he was cut out to be a teacher- and teaching Potions, being in a position like Snape, nearly turned him off the idea completely.

"You learn the least from reading it out of a book," Fleming explained, ignoring Hermione's sour look. "While I'm impressed by how much you've remembered, you will learn much more by experiencing and practice. However, there is no better test of truly understanding your lessons than being able to pass that knowledge on to somebody else."

"Well… what can we teach?" Harry asked. "We really don't know much about potions…"

"You don't have to be as formal as a professor. Simply use what you've learned from our tutoring sessions and improve the skills of your peers. If what you say is true, then there's already plenty of room for them to improve upon," Fleming said as he was packing up. "Obviously, safety and proper equipment selection should be the focus of your first lessons. Perhaps, by the end of the month, your club can be better-equipped than your standard class. There are entire classes of potions that cannot be brewed with the basic bronze cauldron, which I will have to teach you as well."

As they bid Mr. Fleming goodbye, they prepared for their next class, Arithmancy. It would be a perfect time to start asking others to start recruiting others for a potions club. The only students who managed to pass the arithmancy OWL were the keen students who placed little value on the house rivalries.

"What should we call the club? Just the Potions Club?" Harry threw out suggestions as they worked on their arithmancy exercise.

"Or the Hogwarts Potions club… HP for short," Hermione said.

"I'm not using my own initials for a club I'm going to be leading. That just seems so… conceited. I'd never hear the end of it from Snape."

"You're right… wouldn't it be ironic if we named the club after Snape? 'The Snape club,' for everyone who didn't learn potions properly from Snape himself."

"I think that would be funny, but Snape would put an end to it as soon as he found out we were parading around his name."

Samuels, who was sitting beside them, overheard their conversation and cut in. "He can't stop you if you're using an acronym that just happens to spell out 'Snape.' And for what it's worth, I think it's a great idea, but you two need to talk more quietly while we're working," he advised.

Hermione apologized, but continued talking more quietly. "An acronym, hm? It could be something like… The Students Need A Proper Education Society."

"I… I don't think I could host that with a straight face," Harry sniggered. "Is it a bad thing that how much I love this club will depend on how much Snape hates it?"

By the end of the class, Samuels had spread the word to his fellow Ravenclaws and many of them were quite interested in the idea. With the next two classes, they could spread the word to the other Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs.

Moody's class that day, however, left them no room to pass any notes during the lesson. He demanded their full attention, and had his full attention on Harry, as he was kicking off with his favourite toping in all of Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"The Unforgivables! There are only three spells that are classified as Unforgivable, and every one of them will earn you a life sentence in Azkaban for its use. Are any of you aware of what they are?"

"The Cruciatus curse?" came from one of the Hufflepuff girls.

"Ah, one of the most common examples I'd seen in my years as an auror. Known to cause the greatest amount of pain that your mind is even capable of comprehending, but without any physical damage to your body, interestingly enough. Next? How about you, Potter?"

"The Imperius, Harry answered, keeping his eyes locked on Moody. Evidently, Moody didn't trust students enough to lower his mental shields in the classroom, but the fact that Moody was capable of keeping his occlumency going was evidence enough that he wasn't under an imperius this time.

"Correct, Mr. Potter. The Imperius is, interestingly enough, the only Unforgivable curse that can be resisted. Should you fail to resist, you will fall under the complete control of the caster… although I was expecting you to name the curse you're famous for surviving."

"Well, that day wasn't exactly the high point in my life."

"When an unforgivable is cast, it's not going to be a good day for anybody," Moody growled. "Now what's the last one?"

"The Killing Curse?" The last answer was given by Lee Jordan.

"And the Killing Curse… unblockable and guaranteed to rip the soul right out of your body the moment it lands. It's also quite curious that it leaves not a single mark on the body as it does this, it's much like the Cruciatus. Each one of these is remarkably difficult to cast, and very few wizards have ever been able to perform them non-verbally. That means hearing the incantation and the colour of the spell will be your only warnings. Can anyone tell me the colour and incantation of the Killing curse?"

"It's green… and the incantation is Av… Avada.." Alicia clearly knew the answer but was reluctant to actually speak the incantation aloud.

"Great Gwiddion's gonads, you're not going to cast the spell accidentally just by saying it out loud. The spell is AVADA KEDAVRA!" he shouted, shocking the entire class to attention. "And it looks something like this," he added, shooting a harmless jet of bright green light that splattered harmlessly on the rear wall of the classroom. Several students fell out of their seats as it rushed by them. Nobody dared to laugh, not even the twins, while Moody watched impatiently as they climbed back into their seats. "Would anybody like another demonstration? No? Then I expect you to be able to tell the difference between that and the Slug Vomit hex next class. Now, the Cruciatus."

Harry decided to answer this one, having experienced it himself. "The incantation is Crucio and the spell is a very dark orange; almost brown," he answered.

Moody was once again studying him silently, causing the rest of the class to turn in their seats to stare at Harry as well. "That's somewhat correct, Potter. The spell is normally a dull orange; it turns darker depending on the amount of malice the caster is feeling towards his target," he said. "It would take an extreme amount of hatred from an especially psychopathic mind to cause the spell to be nearly brown in colour. It usually looks something like this." He cast another basic light spell that was a much brighter orange than the spell Voldemort used to torture Harry.

Oh nuts, I didn't know that, Harry thought. Just my luck to accidentally look more suspicious. Maybe I can say Quirrel cast the spell that way in first year as an excuse…

"Lastly, there is the Imperius curse. The incantation is Imperio and there is no visible spell bolt, although it does that they get extremely close to you. But since it is the only Unforgivable that can be resisted, we can practice. I'll cast a confounding and a cheering charm on you at the same time- that will mimic the experience of the Imperius. Try not to do anything too ridiculous."

He went around the class, casting the pair of spells on the students, who resisted the spells with varying levels of success. Some of them managed to resist completely, while others gleefully take Moody's suggestions to walk into a wall or play hopscotch. Harry and Hermione both shrugged it off as if it were nothing, although Harry did deliberately relax his occlumency so he could get a better feel for the effects. After his turn, he kept an eye on Cedric, who had a little trouble but ultimately was focused enough to throw it off. As Moody finished with the rest of the students, the twins decided to get in on the action, specifically targeting the students who weren't capable of resisting the spells. Moody, of course, didn't stand for the tomfoolery at all. Without even turning around (possibly using his artificial eye to aim), he hit both Fred and George with more powerful charms than they did for practice, leaving the two acting only slightly sillier than they normally did.

"Why couldn't he have just cast the Imperius itself instead of doing it this way?" Marius Arviragus, one of the Hufflepuff boys, asked his friends. "I mean, as long as he doesn't actually make us do something dangerous, it's alright, innit?"

"Are you daft?" Moody whirled around angrily. "It's an Unforgivable. An instant life-sentence in Azkaban, maybe even a dementor's kiss if anyone is proven to have cast any one of these spells!"

"Yeah, but if it's just for teaching…"

Moody calmed down slightly but still gave the student a patronizing look. "And it's still one year, at minimum, for an attempt. Can anyone tell me why these spells were classified as Unforgivable in the first place? Anyone?"

The entire class was silent until Alicia ventured a guess. "You end up in Azkaban for doing them even once?"

"Wrong. They carry a life sentence because they are Unforgivable, not the other way around," Moody said.

"Well… they're… used to hurt people?" another Hufflepuff tried.

"In nearly all cases, yes, but as Mr. Arviragus suggested, the Imperius wouldn't be so bad, but the problem is it happens to have an interesting side effect…"

"Then is it because they're the most destructive spells?"

"Hah! Not by a long shot," Moody laughed. "Although you may be on the right track…"

"But the killing curse… it kills people!" Jennifer protested.

"Miss Jones, there are plenty of spells that I can shoot from the tip of this wand that can kill you," Moody said, approaching the girl menacingly. "In fact, I don't even need to cast a spell at all," he added, jabbing his wand dangerously close to the girl's eyeball.

"I- I get your point, sir. Pleasedonthurtme."

"It seems that none of you are even close to the answer. What have your previous Defense teachers been teaching you? How to comb your hair?" A few students restrained their laughter as they recalled that Lockhart had spent a great deal of time preening himself. "The Unforgivables are called that, quite simply, because they are unforgivable. They cause irreversible damage that cannot be replicated other than by very dark rituals…"

"But sir, didn't you just say that…"

"…to the caster. They are still being studied by the Unspeakables at the Ministry, but it is sufficient to say that all three of these spells corrupt the soul," Moody informed them. "The Killing curse is the oldest, and the most well-understood. It tears off a piece of the user's own soul and uses it to strike at the target's soul directly. Because of this, no other magic or physical object can block the spell. It's similar to ripping off your own leg just to use it to hit someone over the head. The other two are not as well-understood, but sufficed to say, if any other spell is discovered that corrupts a person's soul upon casting, it will also be classified as Unforgivable and also carry a life sentence in Azkaban."

"If it's so horrible, why would anyone use it?" Hermione asked. This kind of information wasn't available in any book she had access to.

"Because psychopaths aren't reasonable," Moody said, tapping his cane to his temples. "I've heard some criminal organizations use the spells as a rite of passage, others because they think they're a sign of magical strength. For you, this means one thing only- if anyone is even capable of casting the spells, they are a menace to society. The Killing and Cruciatus curses can be dodged. The Imperius can be resisted. The greatest danger to you is not from the spell itself, but from the person who cast it."

Harry recalled his visions of Voldemort, who seemed speak the Unforgivable incantations as if they were prepositions. Obviously, by creating horcruxes, he had no problems mutilating his own soul. Was it any surprise that he had no issue with corrupting it further? As the day came to a close, Harry couldn't help but wonder how Voldemort could have grown up from an innocent child to the man he was today.

Author's Chapter End Notes:

- I just found it odd that J.K. Rowling says the Unforgivables are an instant life sentence in Azkaban, and Draco uses them in book 6- this is after everyone knows Voldemort's back and the ministry should be hard at work stamping dark wizards. He gets no punishment whatsoever.

- One thing that a lot of people gloss over is the fact that in the Harry Potter world, souls are real things. As in visible, detectable, and manipulable things. Dementors suck out souls. Ghosts and spirits can remain after a person's body dies. A horcrux splits and encapsulates a soul fragment into an object (even if it's not common knowledge, some wizard must have guessed it was possible and tried it out). What does this do to religion? Or belief in the afterlife? Did Dumbledore actually know that death was "just the next great adventure" or was that just a belief based on faith? Hmm...