Harry Potter and the Green Snake of Slytherin

9.

Moody's Mood

The week before Christmas, Defense Against the Dark Arts was the only subject where mixed classes had not begun yet. Professor Alastor "Mad Eye" Moody, who usually was over-defiant, did not wish to change his ways of teaching. The students liked him that way, why would he have to follow another path?

Last year, after Dumbledore had found out that Bartemius Crouch Jr. had impersonated Moody using the Polyjuice Potion, the Hogwarts Headmaster had begged the real Moody to stay for one more year. "Mad Eye" Moody really liked to teach. As a former Auror, he was particularly qualified to protect anyone from the Dark Forces.

As such, he had a particularly hard time getting used to Avara von Argentum.

Her parents he knew only too well: some of the mightiest Dark wizards of the century, friends of Voldemort, very literate but also ruthless and cruel. They were said to have improved the "Avada Kedavra" curse so it could kill everyone in a room, not only the person the wand aimed at. Some said Arsenius and Vinea von Argentum also tortured white wizards and distilled their spirits to powerful potions and drank them to become yet mightier, perhaps more than Voldemort himself.

He had spent nine years of his life trying to hunt them down but they had fled back to Germany - where Arsenius originated - before he could send them for lifetime in Azkaban.

There, they had assumedly bought an ancient castle on the heights of Silberberg and cursed it with Dark spells so strong, that only people from the Dark side could ever find it.

And now he had to face them again, through their daughter Avara, the living proof of his defeat against them. Moreover, she was precisely studying at Hogwarts and attending his Defense Against the Dark Arts classes. Unbelievable!

When he first saw her at the Sorting Ceremony, he had been profoundly shocked and felt immense hatred for that girl of infamous lineage.

However, Dumbledore had asked him to wait and see...prejudices were always a bad state of mind. And the Headmaster was apparently right: Arsenius and Vinea von Argentum's daughter was an exceptional student. She knew her Dark Arts very well - she had good reasons - and she also knew how to protect herself from the strongest curses.

Moody actually enjoyed teaming up with Avara for the counter-curse exercises because he was confident that she would never be harmed.

Yet her impressive aura frightened him because he was unable to tell on which side she stood. Avara being the first person whose intentions he could not fathom, he decided not to trust her completely.

Another good reason for him not to try out mixed classes.

Obviously, that meant he would have to resign after Christmas and Hogwarts would have to hire a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

Somehow, he felt happy with that thought... It was time for him to leave, to go back home, take care of magical plants, forget all evil that he had been chasing during his whole life and enjoy a well-deserved rest.

This morning's lesson with the Slytherins was one of his last classes at the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He would have to announce that he would be leaving his job at the end of the week. He crossed his fingers for Avara not to ask for the job, although she would be excellent, no doubt about it.

He walked into the classroom filled with students in black robes and green adornments. Most Slytherins fancied Defense Against the Dark Arts because they hoped they would learn stuff about the Dark Arts themselves. Pure fascination of Evil.

Avara was sitting in the second row as always, leaving the first one to the go-getters, but she had to be ready in case Moody needed her to demonstrate counter-curses.

At the end of the class, he said: "I'll have to leave you earlier today. A Gryffindor student asked me to do some research about Dark ways to gain Mind Control over people... Oh, and by the way, I have decided not to change my mind about mixed classes. I fear Professor Dumbledore will have to look for another Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Maybe the rumours telling the job is jinxed were right, after all." He smiled, his Magical eye rolling inside his orb, observing Avara's reaction.

She remained impassive, but her eyes betrayed that she was almost feeling sorry for Moody.

Once the lesson was over, the Slytherins met for a break in the Patio. Avara whispered into Malfoy's ear "Ten Galleons for me, cousin!"

Draco's drawling voice replied, fairly bored "No wonder you're so wealthy, Avara. No one should ever start betting with you"

"Don't be so sour, Draco! I'll buy some sweets from Honeydukes in Hogsmeade this afternoon with that money. We'll be having a real feast tonight"

That thought seemed to cheer her cousin up again: "Right you are; I can't wait until tonight. There's nothing better than a Slytherin banquet."

He went on "We must be there early enough to get the best table. I'll ask Servana to be there on time too. What about Potter? Will you invite him? I mean, after Gryffindor lost the match last month, he surely has more friends in Slytherin than in his own house..." he couldn't stop laughing.

Avara smiled "Of course! And please, Draco, I demand you to treat him right"

***

Later that day, in the Gryffindor Common Room, Harry, Ron and Hermione were lounging comfortably in the big velvet couch in front of the fireplace. They too had learnt that Moody was quitting from his Defense Against the Dark Arts job, to Hermione's greatest disappointment.

"Ron, it's such a pity! Moody was probably the best DADA-teacher we've had in five years at Hogwarts. I mean, the real Moody was even way better than the fake one. Hopefully he has enough time before his departure to do the little research I asked him!"

"Do you really think that what happened to Harry that day on the Quidditch pitch has something to do with the Dark Arts?"

"Maybe" said Hermione, stroking her ginger-haired cat Crookshanks, as if she knew more to it, deliberately avoiding to reveal the whole story.

"Yeah... Too bad for Moody" said Harry, who just joined their conversation.

"Last year he was kidnapped and now he has to leave...I wonder who will be the new teacher. It won't be easy for Dumbledore to find a new professor before the beginning of next term."

"Oh come on, Harry, be serious!" interjected Hermione bitterly, "You know very well the reason why Moody had to resign. It's because he did not want to bow before your Slytherin friend!"

"My...Slytherin friend...as you call her...saved my life, in case you just forgot...and she invited me to the Slytherin Banquet tonight."

Ron and Hermione looked bewildered at each other.

"The what?" they asked in a single voice.

"The Slytherin Banquet. It's a sort of House feast. Happens once a year I've been told, every 19th December, as a celebration to Salazar Slytherin's birthday."

"Really Harry, this is going too far", shouted Hermione, her face turning crimson out of sheer anger.

"This Salazar Slytherin, he invented and promoted all that pureblood crap. According to his theory, I don't even deserve to live. And you follow them? What makes you think they're not making a fool of you?"

"Hmm...nothing, I know it, that's all. It's all so short-sighted, Hermione."

"Harry, I hope what Rita Skeeter wrote in the paper is wrong. Like Icarus, you could burn your wings if you get too close to the sun. Except the sun we're talking about here is a very Dark one. Crookshanks here can feel it too. The few times he's seen Avara, he started spitting like crazy. Remember Peter Pettigrew. Crookshanks cannot be mistaken."

"Hermione, you just don't know Avara. If you just happened to talk to her, you'll reckon she's a very brave-hearted girl with an impressive mind and...she's so mature!"

"Puh - lease Harry, that's what everyone is so swarming about. She's twisting you around her little finger like Dumbledore and the rest, just to get more power! If you want us to stay friends, you'll have to choose whose side you're on. Here with Ron and me, or with that venomous Slytherin!"

Ron moved forward, moaning "Hey Hermione, wait a minute! I have nothing against Avara... I mean, she looks nice, she has manners, and her snake - Malachius the name - is bloody brilliant...you should have hear it talk to Harry! So I don't see why..."

"Ron, you'll have to choose too, I'm afraid. I just can't understand that you see no contradiction in all this. How can you possibly be neutral in such a situation..."

Both Ron and Harry couldn't say a word that would stop Hermione's fury.

"Very well, then. If you make up your mind some time, just ask first year Camilla Woodbridge, she'll know where to find me. For now, I'm out of here"

She ran up the stairs to the girls' dormitory and slammed the door behind her with incredible violence.

"She's gone postal, Hermione! What do you reckon has happened to her?" asked Harry.

Ron was starting to realize that things could possibly never be the same again between him and Hermione "Dunno. Girls stuff probably... But Harry, this is all your fault. I mean, you keep spending more and more time with our Slytherin foes. No wonder she's over-reacting a bit."

"Time will prove me right, Ron. If you are not sure, though, we'd better stay away from each other for a while"

"Maybe you're right, Harry"

At the same time, Avara von Argentum could follow the whole scene in her mind. Her eyes were filled with the same, shimmering glow that Professor Snape had noticed on the Quidditch pitch one month earlier.