Dumbledore's Warning

A Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson taught by a second-year student began.

"Can anyone tell me what the Unforgivable Curses are?"

Eli fiddled with his Wand, wondering whether any of the second-year students present knew the answer.

A small hand went up. Seeing that it was Hermione Granger, Eli found it both expected and unexpected.

It was contradictory. On one hand, Eli had thought the first to answer might be students from old Pure-blood families, yet it was Hermione, who had been born to Muggles.

But considering Hermione's terrifying amount of reading, it was also only to be expected.

"Then Miss Granger, please answer."

Eli smiled and pointed at Hermione.

Hermione's face flushed slightly. She seemed a little bashful, but she still gave her answer very smoothly. "There are three Unforgivable Curses in total, and every one of them can send someone..."

"To Azkaban!"

Eli finished her sentence for her. "Each of these three curses is utterly evil. They are all highly effective at torturing people, standard equipment for Dark Wizards."

"Professor, if that's the case, why do we still need to learn about them?"

Gryffindor's explosive genius, Seamus Finnigan, spoke up.

Eli looked at him. "Mr. Finnigan asks a good question. If these spells are so evil, why do I still want you to study them? You need to understand that we are learning how to fight Dark Magic, or rather, how to survive under Dark Magic. If we don't understand Dark Magic, how can we fight it?"

"Do we need to learn those spells?"

It was Neville who spoke. When he heard about the Unforgivable Curses, he looked frightened, with a trace of resentment as well.

Neville's parents, the Longbottoms, had been tortured into insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange's Cruciatus Curse. Naturally, he had unpleasant memories of the