Hermione was clearly a little nervous. She took a deep breath, then stood in front of Moody.
Moody looked at her, then waved his wand and spoke the incantation.
Harry had expected Hermione to resist the Imperius Curse just as Ron had. After all, she had practised Occlumency and the meditation method just as Ron had, and Harry even had reason to believe that Hermione had worked somewhat harder than Ron.
But things did not turn out as he had expected.
He could tell that Hermione was indeed resisting to some extent. Her movements were not as smooth as those of the other students, and she seemed to hesitate at every moment.
But she did not manage to break free of the Imperius Curse's control as Ron had.
"Not bad either, Miss Granger. For someone your age." Moody was reasonably satisfied with Hermione's performance. "I think perhaps with a few more tries, you could resist the Imperius Curse too."
Hermione was clearly a little surprised that she had actually failed to do better than Ron. She was not alone; the other students in the class were somewhat surprised too.
Two more students went after Hermione, and then it was Neville's turn.
Harry had imagined that Neville would do as Ron had. After all, he had checked with Magic Perception before the holidays ended, and Neville's soul projection had been stronger than Ron's and Hermione's.
But once again, things went against Harry's expectations.
Neville's resistance looked much the same as Hermione's, perhaps a little more obvious, but only a little. He likewise failed to break free of the Imperius Curse's control.
This left Harry rather puzzled.
Ron could do it, yet neither Neville nor Hermione could. Why was that?
In fact, Harry's thinking was a little off here. He thought Ron