Only Time

Chapter Four

James and Remus were walking to their next class, NEWT-level Potions (Peter was in Arithmancy) when Sirius caught up. James and Remus stopped and waited for him to catch his breath, and then they set off again. Being late for Professor Brewster's class was a sure way to lose ten points, and with James the Head Boy and Remus a prefect, that would not go down well with some of their housemates...namely, Head Girl Lily Evans.

"What'd you want to talk to Patterson about?" James asked Sirius as they entered the dungeons and dumped their stuff near a cauldron.

"I wanted to tell him that I support his decision to cast the Imperius on us," Sirius replied as he took out some parchment, ready to take notes. Remus dropped his quill.

"You want our teacher to cast a highly illegal Dark curse on us?" Remus asked incredulously, staring at Sirius. "But you hate Dark stuff! And what with what happened last summer..."

"Precisely why I think it's a good idea," Sirius said quietly. "I intend to fight the Dark Lord in any way I can, and I'm sure I'm going to come into contact with the Unforgivables sometime. I know there's no defense against the Cruciatus and Avada Kedavra, but if I can fight the Imperius, then I'll never be forced to do something that could hurt the people I love."

"I expect that's what Patterson meant when he said that having the Imperius cast on him during class helped him," James said, joining the conversation. Sirius and Remus turned to look at him, but just then Professor Brewster came out of his office and gave them the instructions for brewing the Dreamless Sleep potion.

"I mean," James continued as Brewster walked by, "he already told us that he's been in battles. Death Eaters were probably casting the Unforgivables left and right, and whoever had any sort of resistance against them was one up on the Dark wizards."

"Exactly!" Sirius exclaimed, enthusiastically sorting out his ingredients. Snape looked up to see what Sirius was being so loud about, but a glare from the three Marauders made him concentrate on his own potion.

Remus sighed. "I know. It probably will be valuable experience, but...Merlin! I just don't like the idea of someone completely taking control over my body." Remus shuddered, and James and Sirius exchanged a look of sympathy mixed with dawning realization. Of course Remus wouldn't like the Imperius--something takes control over his body monthly! I wonder if the Imperius will feel anything like the Change...James thought as he got to work preparing the ingredients for the potion.

"Maybe you'll be able to fight it," Sirius suggested suddenly, and James stopped slicing his Mandrake roots to turn to see Sirius beaming at Remus, who had also stopped what he was doing to look at Sirius. "I mean, what with your" here Sirius lowered his voice "monthly experience, you might be able to throw off the curse."

"Thanks and all, Sear, but as I'm never successful in fighting my" Remus similarly lowered his voice " 'monthly experience', I doubt it will help at all."

Sirius looked deflated, but just as he opened his mouth to say something else, Professor Brewster barked, "Potter! Black! Lupin! Is that your potion you're so avidly discussing?"

Rolling his eyes, James signaled Sirius and Remus that they would continue the discussion out of class. It was NEWT year, after all, and they really needed to be able to make their potions right and do well on the NEWTs if they wanted to be Aurors.

So the boys completed their potion to the professor's satisfaction and left, heading towards the Great Hall for dinner. They sat down at the Gryffindor table where Peter was already seated, waiting for them. He immediately began babbling about Arithmancy, which was his favorite subject but which the other three had decided not to continue with. James began eating as Sirius and Remus discussed the pros and cons of going into the Forbidden Forest as humans, and Peter was already stuffing his face. During a lull in the conversation, James looked up at the staff table, where he saw Professor Patterson chatting animatedly with Professor Flitwick. However, as soon as Professor Flitwick turned away to say something to Professor Kettleburn, the Care of Magical Creatures teacher, a strange, almost sad expression came over Patterson's face. But when Flitwick turned back, Patterson just shook his head a bit and continued the discussion. James thought this behavior a bit odd, but he was very hungry and had just gotten started eating his beef, so he thought nothing more of it.

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Several days later, the four Marauders were sitting in the common room during their free period right before Defense Against the Dark Arts, James and Sirius planning a prank, Peter talking to his girlfriend, a curly-haired sixth year, and Remus doing homework, quill scratching furiously over the parchment.

"Oi, Remus!" Sirius said, looking up. Remus glanced up, his quill stopping momentarily.

"Yes, Sirius?" Remus asked politely, but James could tell he wanted to get back to whatever he was writing.

"Why don't you stop working on that and help us? We need Mr. Moony's brilliant mind," Sirius said with a grin. James just rolled his eyes, sharing a quick smile with Remus.

"Because I'd like to get this assignment done," Remus explained patiently. "It's the Defense assignment, and considering this is supposed to be all the spells we know, it's going to take awhile."

Suddenly Sirius cursed, slapping himself on the forehead. "I completely forgot about that! But it's not due for another week and a half..."

"Well, unless you feel like doing it all the night before it's due and possibly forgetting tons of spells, I suggest you get started on it soon," Remus said dryly.

"Speaking of Defense..." James spoke up, and Sirius and Remus looked at him. "...we should probably get going. It's the lesson on the Unforgivables today."

Remus nodded and started rolling up his parchment, putting it and his quills and stuff in his bag. Sirius simply stuffed the parchment he and James were using to plan the prank in his pocket before standing up and stretching.

"Peter! Sorry to pry you away from Jennifer here, but we have to get to Defense," Sirius said, walking up to Peter and clapping a hand on his shoulder. Peter smiled apologetically at his girlfriend, who just smiled back and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before moving away. Peter sighed and began gathering his stuff.

"Let's go then," Peter said once they all had their stuff together. The other three nodded and went out the portrait hole, greeting to the fifth years who were just coming in. One of the girls blushed when Sirius absently said hello to her, but Sirius just continued talking to Remus, not noticing his effect on the girl. James smirked as he walked by, amused.

They made it to Defense on time that day, though they were still the last to enter the room. Professor Patterson was sitting at his desk, absentmindedly tapping a quill against his lips as he stared down at some parchment strewn about his desk. He looked up and smiled, a bit strained, as the four boys sat down and the bell rang. He stood up and walked around to the front of his desk.

"Today's the lesson on the Unforgivables," he said quietly, but the room was so silent that everyone heard him. "Since Mr. Snape was able to tell us what the Imperius curse does, perhaps he would like to explain the Cruciatus. Mr. Snape?"

Snape sat up straighter, though he paled a bit. "The Cruciatus causes excruciating pain in all parts of the body until the caster decides to lift the curse," he said.

"Five points to Slytherin, Mr. Snape. Good job," the professor said. Then he looked around the room, meeting the eyes of every single student in turn. "The Cruciatus triggers all your nerve impulses for pain until you can do nothing but scream and writhe around on the ground. Held too long under the Cruciatus curse, a person could easily go insane, and many have. It takes an incredibly strong willed person to be able to fight off the pain; most people who have been under the curse can't do it, because they are unable to think of anything but the agony the curse inflicts on them. You have to be able to at least accept, if not ignore, the pain, which I can assure you, is a very hard thing to do."

Patterson walked about around his desk and took out something from under it. Everybody leaned forward to see a jar with three spiders in it. Patterson opened the jar and took out one spider, putting it on his desk, where he scuttled away as fast as it could. The class blinked when it hit an invisible barrier on the desk and started climbing up it, looking like it was climbing straight up thin air. Professor Patterson took out his wand and pointed it at the spider, muttering, "Engorgio!" The spider grew and fell off the invisible wall in surprise. Then Professor Patterson closed his eyes, a pained expression on his face, and said, "Crucio."

The class watched in awed fear and morbid fascination as the spider began to jerk and twitch, rolling around on its back, writhing and flailing its legs. James was sure, in the part of his mind that was able to think, that the spider would have been screaming if it had been able. After another few seconds, Patterson lifted the curse, but the spider just lay there, occasionally twitching. Patterson shrunk the spider and put it back in the jar, where it was avoided by the other two.

"Very unpleasant curse, but very much favored by Voldemort and his Death Eaters," Patterson said calmly, and the class stared. He said You-Know-Who's name! James thought in wonder as he stared at his professor with the rest of his class.

"You said You-Know-Who's name!" one of Lily's friends whispered, voicing the thoughts of everyone else in the room. The class jumped in surprise as Patterson only snorted.

"Is there any reason why I shouldn't?" Patterson replied sardonically, and the girl blinked.

"But...if you do, he'll come after you!" she squeaked.

"Been there, done that," Patterson murmured so quietly that James wasn't even sure he heard it. However, James didn't have time to ponder that statement before Patterson was speaking again. "It's just a name, Miss Jenson. Voldemort" everybody winced "has absolutely no way of knowing when you say his name, and if he did, he'd probably be glad that you were so afraid of him that you can't even say his name. Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself."

Nobody said anything for awhile, so Patterson sighed. "Anyway...onto the Imperius curse. You already know what this is meant to do, so I'll just skip straight to the demonstration." He took out one of the other spiders and set in on the desk. It immediately started trying to run away, but apparently hit the same barrier the Cruciatus spider had. Patterson just fingered his wand and said, "Imperio!"

The spider went into a series of jumps and backflips that it surely would have been unable to do had it not been controlled. Then it raised itself up on two of its legs and started dancing and twirling like a ballerina. A few of the Slytherins snickered, but a glare from the professor shut them up as he took his wand away and put the spider back in the jar.

"Remember, I'll be doing the exact same thing to you," Patterson warned ominously, and the Slytherins who snickered now looked a bit worried. "Now...who would like to tell us about the final Unforgivable?"

To James's surprise, it was Lily who raised her hand shakily into the air. Patterson raised an eyebrow before saying, "Miss Evans?"

"Avada Kedavra," Lily whispered, lowering her hand. Her bright green eyes stood out in her pale face as she looked straight at the professor, who looked at her searchingly. "The Killing Curse."

"Five points to Gryffindor, Miss Evans," Patterson said softly. He reached into the jar and took out the final spider, which seemed to realize its fate somehow as he tried frantically to free itself from the teacher's grasp. He set the spider down on the desk before closing his eyes and saying coldly, clearly, "Avada Kedavra."

There was a flash of bright green light, a sound of something rushing forward, and the light cleared to show the spider lying motionlessly on the desk, obviously dead. The professor took a deep breath as he picked the spider up and gently put it back in the jar.

"Avada Kedavra is impossible to block or reflect. Should you ever find yourself up against it, you will not survive. Your greatest defense against this curse is not getting hit with it in the first place, for if you are, there's nothing anyone can do to save you." The professor's deep brown eyes looked sad, wistfully regretful, and James found himself wondering if anyone the professor knew had been killed, before deciding that was a stupid thought; as so many people were being killed lately, it was nearly impossible to find someone who hadn't lost anyone. But the professor was speaking again, so James shook off his meanderings and listened closely.

"The three Unforgivables are curses that you need to be quite powerful to pull off effectively. I doubt that most of you, even in this stage of your education, would have the necessary power to pull one off. But you need more than just power to use an Unforgivable. You need intent. If you want to use the Cruciatus curse, you need to want the person you're casting it on to suffer." Here Professor Patterson's eyes looked distant, as if remembering. "To use these curses, you need to know what you're doing, and you need to want to be doing it. For homework, just read up on the Unforgivables in your text book. Class dismissed."

The students stood up and slowly filed out of the room, most talking about the curses the professor had just shown them. James waved the others ahead of him and approached Lily, who was still seated, head drooping. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Class is over now, Lily. Would you like to walk with me to Transfiguration?" James asked respectfully, knowing that something he had no idea of was going on in Lily's mind. A year ago, he might have pressed her, wanting to know what she was thinking about, but now he just waited. He knew she would tell him if she wanted him to know.

"Thank you, James. I would like that," Lily said softly, looking up at him and smiling. James smiled back as he stood back, letting her stand up and gather her stuff before they walked out together. They didn't even notice Professor Patterson watching them, smirking.