Moody: This... This Isn't Right, Dumbledore?

Professor Moody certainly knew Neville, or rather—he knew Neville's parents, Frank Longbottom and Alice Longbottom.

Both of them were founding members of the Order of the Phoenix and made significant contributions in resisting the dark forces of the Death Eater and Voldemort.

More than a decade ago, Frank and his wife Alice were captured by Bellatrix Lestrange and other Death Eater and subjected to the Cruciatus Curse, a cruel form of torture. This torture drove Frank insane, and Alice suffered severe psychological trauma, losing her memory and becoming unable to recognize her son, Neville Longbottom.

Professor Moody was once a member of the Order of the Phoenix.

However, he didn't call out Neville's name first. After searching among his classmates, he chose Ron.

"Mr. Weasley," Professor Moody said, pointing to Ron.

But his crazy eye remained fixed on Seamus, preventing him from sticking the chewing gum under the desk again.

Seamus remained stiff and motionless, fearing that the somewhat eccentric professor might do something drastic. Ron stood up, cleared his throat, and said, "It's like this, Professor, I know a spell called the ' Imperius Curse '."

"Ah, yes," Moody said approvingly. "Your father must know that spell— the Imperius Curse caused the Ministry of Magic a lot of trouble back in the day."

He waved his hand, gesturing for Ron to sit down.

After Ron sat down, Professor Moody picked up his wand and swung it to open the box he kept in the classroom.

Three bottles flew out of the box and slowly landed on the podium.

Inside were enormous black spiders, which didn't look like mildly venomous species. The red spots on them told everyone that these were definitely highly venomous spiders that were not to be trifled with.

Ron swallowed hard. Although he had Charms quite well, he was still quite afraid of spiders. Moody reached into the bottle, grabbed a spider, and, ignoring its violent struggles and its constantly snapping claws, placed it on his outstretched palm so that everyone could see it.

"What a lovely little beauty—" he exclaimed in a soft voice.

Then he pointed at it with his wand and murmured, "Engorgio (Engorgio)!"

The spider swelled up, and Ron swallowed hard, subtly shifting his chair back.

"Imperio (Imperio)!"

The spider jumped off Moody's palm, suspended by a thin thread, and began to swing back and forth, as if sitting on a high swing.

It stiffly straightened its legs, then turned around and did a somersault, breaking the thin thread.

It slammed onto the table and started doing somersaults in circles.

Moody flicked his wand, and it stood up again on its two hind legs, dancing a kind of tap dance. Yes, tap dance.

Everyone laughed—except for Moody.

"You think it's funny, don't you?" he asked in a gruff voice. "If I did this to you, would you like it?"

The laughter stopped almost immediately.

"Completely under my control," Moody said softly—at which point the spider curled up and began rolling around incessantly. "I can make it jump out of the window, drown itself, or leap into the throat of one of your classmates."

Upon hearing this, Ron's expression froze, as if a spider had crawled into his throat.

He was somewhat disheartened at this point.

What the hell is this?! With such a vivid imagination?!

"Years ago, many wizards were controlled by the Imperius Curse," Moody said. "I'm talking about the days when Voldemort's power was at its peak. Did the Ministry of Magic really have a lot of work to do then, trying to distinguish who was being forced to act and who was acting of their own volition?"

As he said this, Professor Moody's crazy eyes were no longer fixed on Seamus, but instead stared intently in Draco's direction.

Noticing Professor Moody's gaze, Draco grunted reluctantly.

He knew, of course, that Professor Moody was subtly hinting at something to him.

Before the start of the School Opening, Draco was called away by his father Lucius, who specifically instructed him not to give Mad-Eye Moody any leverage over him at school.

In Lucius's words, Moody is a person who judges others based on their character, not their actions. Once he decides that someone is problematic, he will never let them go.

Draco, of course, would keep his father's teachings in mind, so he simply kept his head down.

"The Imperius Curse can be resisted. I will teach you how, but it requires a very strong personality and not everyone can master it. You'd better try to avoid being hit by it."

"Stay alert at all times!" Professor Moody suddenly shouted, startling everyone.

He seemed quite pleased that his classmates had been startled.

"Does anyone know any spells? Illegal spells?" he continued.

This time, Moody looked at his classmates and chose Neville to answer the question.

"You," he said, pointing in Neville's direction, "You answer the question."

"There is a Cruciatus Curse," Neville said without changing his expression. "The spell is 'Crucio.' It is a very evil form of Dark Arts. Anyone struck by the Cruciatus Curse will feel excruciating pain all over their body. The excruciating pain will make the victim wish they were dead. If the curse is not stopped, the victim will be tortured to the point of madness, or even death."

When the conversation turned to the point of driving someone mad, Neville's face paled for a brief moment, but he still forced himself to give a detailed explanation of the question.

Moody was stunned.

However, he quickly recovered and nodded, saying, "That's a good answer, then—"

He lowered his head, flipped through the roster, and when he looked up again, said, "You're Longbottom, right? I know you—um, I'm sorry."

"It's alright, Professor." Neville smiled at Moody.

"Yes, Mr. Longbottom is right." Moody released the Imperius Curse from the spider.

After the spider's Charms was lifted, he stood there bewildered, unsure of what to do. "The Cruciatus Curse is an extremely evil form of Dark Arts. Only when the caster has a strong desire to torment people can this Charms be successfully cast—which proves that he did not make a mistake unintentionally."

Moody raised his wand again and aimed it at the spider.

"Cruciatus Curse!"

Immediately, the spider's legs all retracted, pressing tightly against its body.

It was turning over, its body convulsing violently and swaying from side to side.

The tormented spider made no sound, but everyone believed that if it had vocal organs,

It must be screaming desperately right now.

Moody didn't remove the wand, and the spider began to tremble violently. None of the students could laugh out loud; they stared in disbelief at the writhing and struggling spider on the platform, momentarily speechless.

Moody's mad eyes were still scrutinizing Neville, and Moody was somewhat surprised to see Neville watching him torture the spider without batting an eye.

That Longbottom family kid...

Was he terrified, or—

Seeing that Neville's expression was becoming increasingly calm, Moody also felt that it was meaningless.

He slowly lowered the wand, and the spider stopped struggling, as if it had exhausted all its strength, lying motionless in place.

"Extremely painful, such Charms." His voice was soft. "That's why the Ministry of Magic lists this spell as one of the the three Unforgivable Curses, because it is simply too cruel."

After saying that, Moody looked up at his classmates again and asked, "There's one last Charms. Does anyone know what it is?"

As he said this, Professor Moody looked at Harry, as if expecting him to answer the question.

Of course, Moody also mentioned his name.

Hermione, who had raised her hand, was disappointed; she really wanted to answer the question.

"Mr. Potter," Moody nodded gently, "I don't need to look at the roster to recognize you among the students."

He made a joke that wasn't too big or too small, but unfortunately, the students were all in a heavy mood at the time, and apart from Ron laughing twice, they didn't react at all.

"Alright," Moody said again, "Do you know what the last spell is, Mr. Potter?"

"The Avada Kedavra, Professor," Harry replied calmly. "It's the first of the Unforgivable Curse."

It can take a person's life in an instant.

Upon hearing the name of the Charms, the entire classroom fell silent, and the students wore expressions of extreme fear.

"Alright, sit down, Mr. Potter," Moody nodded, then looked at the students. "It's good that you have such reverence for such evil spells at your age—but I need to remind you that the Wizarding World is not safe. You can't expect the Magical World after graduation to be as safe as Hogwarts, can you? I don't want you to be struggling with the fear of the Killing Curse when you encounter Dark Wizard —what I'm going to do now is to dispel your fear of these the three Unforgivable Curses."

As he spoke, he raised his wand.

"Avada Kedavra!"

A blinding green light pierced the eyes, accompanied by a jumble of noises, as if an unseen behemoth was flying through the air. At the same time, the spider flipped over and lay on its back on the table, its body unmarked, but undoubtedly dead.

The classroom fell silent once again, with only the sound of the wind blowing through the window and turning the pages of books, and the sound of Professor Moody moving his body.

"Even if I let you know this spell, I'm not worried that you'll use it recklessly—the Avada Kedavra requires a very strong magical foundation." Professor Moody's booming voice echoed throughout the classroom. "You can all take out your wands, point them at me, and say this spell. I suspect I'll only get a little nosebleed at most, but that's okay. I'm here to teach you how to recite the spell."

"So, have you all learned it?" Moody shouted again, startling the students.

"I've learned it," Harry nodded.

Professor Moody's body trembled.

A week has passed, and there are still small animals in this school that aren't afraid of me?

His crazy eyes were fixed on Harry as he said, "Really? Then you can try—if you can successfully cast this Charms, I can give Gryffindor twenty points."

Finally, he added, "Come on, point your wand at me—"

Ron and Hermione:?

No, Professor?

Are you really going to commit suicide like this?

They didn't know if Harry had ever used the Avada Kedavra, but they were certain that Harry would definitely use Charms.

I think you've been eating too many red beans.

"Let's use spiders, Professor," Harry asked tentatively.

"No, no need!" Moody said gruffly. "Aim at me, kid—you won't kill me, you'll just give me a nosebleed—"

At that moment, Draco also looked up.

He certainly knew that Harry was skilled at Avada Kedavra, and in his imagination, even Voldemort might not be as proficient as him.

However, Moody's...

Draco didn't intend to say anything, but instead looked up with interest, ready to see how Harry would respond.

People who court death are common, but this is the first time he's seen someone like the professor who seems to enjoy courting death so much.

"I think I'll use the spider, Professor," Harry said to Moody. "We should always be prepared for the worst. Perhaps it's better to try it with the spider first, don't you think?"

But Moody still stubbornly insisted that Harry use the Killing Curse on him, the kind of stubbornness that eight Thestral couldn't pull back.

Harry had no choice but to raise his wand.

"Avada Kedavra!"

A powerful green light burst forth from the tip of Harry's wand, shooting straight at the bottle; the entire classroom seemed to be engulfed by this incredibly intense green light, especially Moody, who was at close range, and for a moment even saw his great-grandmother who had passed away many years ago.

No, something's not right—

He shook his head, trying to come to his senses.

Then he saw the spider inside the bottle, which had turned over and was motionless.

Then he remembered that he had just had Harry test the Avada Kedavra.

At the same time, a sense of lingering fear rose in his heart.

This... this isn't right, is it?

Merlin's pants! If that Killing Curse had hit him just now, he would probably be dead by now.

What do kids these days eat to grow up?

"You, come with me!" Professor Moody said gruffly. "Come to the Headmaster's Office with me! I need to speak with Dumbledore about this! Merlin's beard... to have a student like you at Hogwarts, I'm really afraid of you—."

He didn't say the rest, but everyone understood what he meant.

"Professor!" Hermione stood up and protested, "Harry isn't that kind of person! You shouldn't make such unfounded assumptions about him!"

Moody didn't say anything, but just walked out of the classroom with a limp.

As he reached the door, he turned back and shook his head, signaling Harry to follow.

As he walked toward the Headmaster's Office, Moody was still thinking.

This is no ordinary student; we must strike hard! Let him know the hardships of the Magical World!