Defense Against the Dark Arts

"Alright!"

Professor Moody suddenly turned serious. "Let me introduce myself, Alastor Moody, a former Aurors, dissatisfied with the Ministry of Magic, your new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor... I'm here because Dumbledore invited me to teach here, that's all, nothing else."

Is there a problem?

Moody's gaze swept over the young wizards, and he forced a smile as he continued, "I received a letter from Professor Lupin introducing the course. It seems you've grasped quite a bit of the basics about dealing with Dark Arts creatures... You've learned how to deal with Boggart, Red Cap, Hinkypunk, Grindylow, Kappa, and Werewolf, haven't you?"

"..." The students expressed their agreement in hushed tones.

"But you haven't learned enough about how to deal with spells, far too little!" Moody patted his rough hands. "Spells come in many forms, each with different effects. You're not even in sixth grade yet, so I shouldn't be telling you what illegal dark magic spells look like. According to the Ministry of Magic's rules, I should only be teaching you how to Counter-charms."

"But in my opinion, the sooner you understand what you're dealing with, the better. How can you protect yourself in front of something you've never seen before?"

"If a wizard wants to cast an illegal spell on you, he won't tell you his intentions. He won't cast the spell frankly, fairly, or politely... I've always advocated for more practice in defending against Dark Arts. Therefore, I'm going to let you experience what wizards do."

"You'd better be prepared and on your guard! You'd better take that thing away while I'm talking, Miss Brown."

Moody's spinning magic eye locked onto Lavender, Lavender face turned bright red as he hurriedly hid the Celestial Map he had concealed under the table.

Moody continued his lecture, but his demonic eye remained fixed on Lavender: "First, can any of you tell me how many types of Unforgivable Curses there are?"

The question startled the young wizards, and no one raised their hand for a long time. Even Hermione hesitated. "Three kinds, sir."

Moody turned and wrote "Unforgivable" on the blackboard, then asked in an appreciative tone, "So why this name?"

"Because they are unforgivable, using any of them would be—"

"They'll send you straight to Azkaban, that's right." Moody's chalk tapped loudly on the blackboard. "The Ministry of Magic says you're too young to be exposed to such spells, but I don't think so. Like I said before, you must understand your opponents, be prepared at all times, and also..."

Moody suddenly slowed his speech, his eyes fixed intently on Seamus: "Find another place to put the chewing gum, instead of sticking it under the desk, Finnigan!"

Loren and the others sitting in the front row turned around to look back. Seamus was startled and, as he put down his chewing gum, couldn't help but mutter under his breath, "No way, does this old man have eyes in the back of his head?"

Before he could finish speaking, a piece of chalk flew straight at him, Moody roared in a gruff voice, "And it has super hearing!"

In the quiet classroom, Hermione carefully observed the fake Professor Moody's actions. At least for now, he seemed to be a competent Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, perhaps even better than the previous professors.

Hermione was thinking to herself when her gaze was unconsciously drawn to the white quill pen that was constantly swaying below her. She glanced to the side and saw Loren spinning his brand-new quill pen, its snow-white surface gleaming and eye-catching.

"..."

What kind of time is this to be thinking about twirling a pen?

Hermione grabbed his restless hand, and the quill pen fell to the table.

Third Floor, the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor's office.

Dumbledore and Snape stood in a room filled with strange gadgets. It was dim and quiet, with dark curtains covering the windows and only a thin sliver of light filtering in.

The previous owners of the office had also visited, and during Lockhart's time, the walls were covered with photos of Lockhart himself smiling as he did his research. When Lupin was here, he often encountered some very strange and novel Dark Arts creatures, which Lupin brought for his students to learn about in class.

The office is now filled with a bunch of strange and unusual things, probably things Moody used when he was Aurors.

Various detection instruments were laid out on the table, and mirrors and silverwares rotated slowly, occasionally reflecting strange human figures.

On the corner of a small table sat a strange golden antenna, twisted abruptly as if it had been broken off, emitting a soft buzzing sound.

"Alastor's Secrecy Sensor vibrates when it detects conspiracy and lies, just like it is now." Dumbledore looked at the antenna with interest, stroking his beard with some annoyance. "Looks like it won't be of any use here. The children are making up lies about their unfinished summer homework these days, too much interference."

Snape's expression was cold. "Have you ever considered that the Secrecy Sensor was going off because it was detecting Fake Mad-Eye's conspiracy?"

"Hmm..." Dumbledore pondered for a moment. "You're right, Severus, that's certainly a possibility... So, have you found evidence to confirm that Alastor was impersonated using Polyjuice Potion?"

"Although Morgan was lazy, slow-witted, and always did things half-heartedly, he had an excellent mentor..."

Dumbledore glanced sideways; Severus's tone was completely flat, his expression calm—anyone who didn't know better would think he was praising someone else.

"... Polyjuice Potion is a very classic Potions. He spied on my storeroom that night, and although he was well disguised, his magical eye kept an eye on the African Tree Snake Skin," Snape concluded.

"It seems our friend has his eye on your medicinal herbs; he's making long-term plans for his own Polyjuice Potion," Dumbledore chuckled.

Snape's brow twitched a few times. Dumbledore surveyed the room's furnishings, calmly sensing the warning magic attached to various objects, pondering how to investigate the office without triggering these spells.

And, find Alastor...

On the opposite wall hung something that looked like a mirror, but it didn't reflect the scene in the room. Instead, it showed many dark figures moving around, but they were all blurry and indistinct.

Suddenly, a figure pressed against the mirror. The blurry and distorted mirror made it impossible to see the facial features, but the eyes, which had no pupils and were all white, were exceptionally clear.

Snape was startled, but glanced at the headmaster without showing any emotion.

"Oh, the Two-way Mirror, I haven't seen it in many years..." Dumbledore smiled easily. "Alastor once told me that if you can see the whites of those figures' eyes, it means you're in real trouble, and that's when we need to open the box."

Upon hearing this, Snape looked towards the deepest part of the office.

The most conspicuous box in the room was placed under the window. It was made of wood and covered with white patterns like crescent moons and willow branches. The keyholes of the seven locks were arranged in a row.

Dumbledore walked up to the locked chest, examined it carefully for a moment, and then pointed his wand at the keyhole.

"[The Alohomora] "

Snape frowned slightly, finding it strange. The seven keyholes were mixed with several anti- Unlocking Charm. Even if Potter, who was empty-headed, came here, he would be able to tell that these locks could not be opened by Unlocking Charm... Why did he do it?

A spark flew, and a soft click came from the Lockhart; the first lock had opened.

Dumbledore to look at him and smiled, "We've got good luck, haven't we?"

Snape gave him a deep look and gave a noncommittal "hmm".

Open the box; inside is a pile of spellbooks.

Dumbledore closed the box, unlocked the second lock, and opened it again. Inside the box, instead of a spellbook, were various broken Sneakoscope, some parchment and quills, and a silver Invisibility Cloak.

Snape watched silently as Dumbledore unlocked the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth locks, opening the chest, each time revealing a different item. Finally, he unlocked the seventh lock and lifted the lid—

There was a square pit at the bottom of the box, like a basement. A person was lying half-reclined on the floor about three meters deep, wearing white pajamas.

The real Moody heard the sound, looked up in a daze, and seemed unaccustomed to the sudden light. He raised his hand to shield his eyes, his other eye missing, leaving only a dark, empty hole.

"Are you alright, Alastor?" Dumbledore greeted him with a smile.

Moody forced an awkward smile and said in a relaxed tone, "I 'Albus, I've caused you trouble."

Moody manipulated the spider, suspending it on his palm and making it swing back and forth until it snapped its silk and fell onto the desk. Without pausing, the spider began to circle around, somersault, and tap dance...

The young wizards initially wore mocking smiles, but when the spider tore off two of its own limbs, their smiles froze, and a strange chill ran through them.

"This is the Imperius Curse. The creature ensnared by it is completely under my control..." Moody said softly, waving his wand. "I can make it jump out of a window, drown itself, or leap into the throat of one of your classmates..."

The classroom was completely silent.

"Many years ago, many evil wizards claimed that their obedience to the Dark Lord was due to the influence of the Imperius Curse," Moody chuckled. "But the question is, how do we know who's lying?"

"The Ministry of Magic was really busy back then. They couldn't distinguish who was forced to act and who was acting of their own free will, and many people escaped trial as a result, including you..."

"Alright..." Moody shook his head, struggled to his feet with his prosthetic leg, grabbed the spider that had broken its leg while somersaulting, and threw it back into the glass bottle. "Does anyone know of any other Unforgivable Curses?"

Neville slowly raised his hand. "I know one, sir, the Cruciatus Curse."

Moody's magical eye darted around and focused intently on Neville: "You're Lomberton, aren't you?"

Neville nodded nervously, but Moody didn't ask anything else. He picked up another spider, placed it on his outstretched palm, and used [Engorgio] to enlarge the spider so that everyone could see it.

Under the watchful eyes of all the young wizards, Moody pointed his wand at it and murmured, "[Bone-Crushing Cruciatus Curse]".

Immediately, the spider's legs retracted tightly against its body, and its body began to convulse violently. Spiders do not have vocal organs, but all the young wizards seemed to hear a faint, painful hiss.

Neville's pupils contracted violently as painful memories he thought he had let go of resurfaced. His consciousness and soul seemed to detach from his body and enter the trembling spider's body...

To the young wizards around him, Neville's hands were gripping the table in front of him tightly, his knuckles white, his eyes wide open, flashing with fear and anger.

The spider began to tremble violently, its convulsions intensifying. Its segmented limbs, clung tightly to its body, seemed to want to rip its flesh apart and tear off all its thin legs. It wished it could tear itself to pieces, for every inch of its body was suffering unprecedented pain—piercing, crushing, burning... all of which paled in comparison to this entirely new agony.

When Moody threw the spider back into the glass bottle, its legs had relaxed but were still twitching.

"Extreme pain," Moody said softly. "If you could recite the Cruciatus Curse, you wouldn't need a thumb clamp or a knife to torture someone... This curse was once very popular."

"Alright, does anyone else know the last incantation?"

In the young wizards' hazy memories, the following scene was somewhat blurry. As the incantation of "Avada Kedavra" rang out, a dazzling green light blinded them, accompanied by a jumble of noises, as if an unseen behemoth flew through the air.

As the light faded, the third spider lay on its back on the table, its body unmarked and unblemished, but all the young wizards knew clearly that its life had completely ended and it was dead.

"Not pleasant at all." Moody swept the dead spider off the table and onto the floor, his gaze sweeping over the young wizard with a calm, almost indifferent look. "Very unpleasant, and there's no way to Counter-charms, no way to resist it. As far as I know, only one person has escaped this spell, and he's sitting right in front of us right now."

"..."

Moody's voice seemed to be right beside them, yet also came from a great distance. The young wizards had received an unprecedented Defense Against the Dark Arts, and were deeply moved.

Even though Hermione knew beforehand that Moody was a human in disguise, she was still shocked and gripped Loren's arm tightly.

Loren grimaced as he recalled the Unforgivable Curses he had just witnessed. Combining Moody's explanation with the materials he had previously consulted, he had managed to understand some of the Imperius Curse. With more practice, he should be able to gradually master it.

However, Cruciatus Curse Killing Curse; it can only exert its full Magic Power if one harbors the intention to torment and take away life.

Loren silently pulled his arm away from the Witch's grasp, calculating the possibility of him mastering the Killing Curse.

"The Killing Curse requires a very strong magical foundation. You can all take out your wands, point them at me, and recite the spell. I suspect I'll only get a nosebleed at most..."

Moody spoke coldly, but then he saw Loren in the front row raise his wand with great interest and point it at him. Moody's eyelids twitched a few times, and he subconsciously quickened his pace. "So, since there's no way to Counter-charms, why should I show you these things? Because you must understand, you must fully realize what the worst is..."

"Stay alert at all times!" Moody's sudden shout startled the entire class.