Fighting Your First War in Peacetime
Professor Snape and the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor are fighting.
By evening, the rumor had spread throughout Hogwarts, successfully overshadowing Neville's popularity.
Snape truly lived up to his reputation as a walking news generator... two news items in one day, both related to him.
With this frequency of appearances, someone who didn't know better might think Dumbledore was trying to promote him to vice-principal and was just trying to make him more visible.
Unfortunately, all this buzz is for negative news.
Anyway, the rumors were quite detailed and detailed, saying that Professor Snape was beaten by Moody.
The angry roar that came from the underground classroom when class ended was enough to prove this point.
By then, all the students had gone far away, leaving only Moody standing at the entrance to the underground classroom. Wasn't he the one who made the call?
Besides, Professor Moody loitering in front of the Potions Classroom —isn't that a clear indication of targeting Snape?
The two must have had a long-standing conflict.
The reasoning chain is seamless, well-founded, and without any logical flaws.
Besides, this is just a rumor, what logic are you talking to me about... Hogwarts is not a place where you can talk logic.
This time, Snape did not deny it, nor did he make a fuss about losing the herbs.
This is completely unlike his usual way of doing things.
He usually manages to find the murderer and then causes trouble in the Great Hall.
William soon found out the reason.
Professor Sprout looked very grim during the Herbology.
She first emphasized the importance of O. W. Ls to everyone. Then she began to denounce how some people had taken advantage of her to steal her herbs.
That night, the waters of Black Lake drowned many precious plants. But after the emergency repairs, many herbs, still alive, were mistaken for dead and simply plucked away!
Well... no wonder Professor Snape didn't dare to say anything.
He was the one who pulled it out; if this were to come out, Professor Sprout would kill him.
He could only suffer in silence and slowly try to get his revenge.
Since the greenhouse was flooded, everyone's task was to cultivate new plants.
An hour and a half later, the Ravenclaw students, exhausted and reeking of dragon dung, lined up to return to the castle.
On the way, they ran into Moody again.
The eaglets then realized something:
It turns out that Professor Moody wasn't targeting Professor Snape alone.
He would stand at the door for almost every class, as if he were spying on something.
Rumors about Moody are also increasing, especially those about his battle with the dark wizard.
Therefore, everyone suspected that a Death Eaters was hiding in the school, and Moody's goal was to capture him.
Moody's Defence Against Dark Magic class was eagerly anticipated by all the students.
In the twins' words, no Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor knew more about the Dark Magic than them.
On Wednesday, Ravenclaw and Slytherin House finally had their first lesson Defence Against Dark Magic.
The students took out "Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Defense" and waited, the atmosphere unusually quiet.
Soon, Moody's distinctive thumping footsteps came down the corridor.
He walked into the classroom, looking as strange as ever. They could just see his claw-like wooden foot peeking out from under his robe.
"Put all of these things away," Moody said gruffly, as he trudged to the podium with his cane and sat down.
"We don't need textbooks; those are just low-level gadgets."
Moody took out the roster, shook his head to clear his long, gray hair from his contorted, scarred face, and began calling out names.
His normal eye moved down the list, while his demonic eye darted back and forth, staring at each student who answered.
When he got to William's name, he paused for several seconds before continuing to read.
"Alright," Moody said after the last student finished answering.
I received a letter from Professor Lupin introducing the course.
He said your foundation is still quite good compared to the students in the following years.
This is thanks to the fact that you encountered two teachers who were quite capable.
Although one of them has already been happily imprisoned in Azkaban.
Everyone looked at William, the one who had personally given Professor Tywin a one-way ticket to Azkaban.
But who would have thought that Professor Tywin was one of only two reliable professors they had encountered in recent years.
What a cruel twist of fate!
"You have already grasped a lot of basic knowledge about how to deal with Dark Magic creatures."
Knowing how to deal with Boggart, Red Cap, Hinkypunk, Grindylow, Kappa...
Many students nodded smugly.
Moody suddenly changed the subject, "But what I want to say is that most of what you're learning is completely useless!"
The young wizards all looked up, staring at Moody with suspicion.
"Don't rush to interrupt me, and don't be so quick to dismiss me..." Moody growled.
"You think you've mastered a lot... but what you'll face in the future isn't those lowly dark creatures."
It could be hordes of Werewolf, packs of Giant, hordes of vampires, a dragon knightly army... or even Death Eaters!
Moody tapped his wand, and images of these Magical Creatures appeared on the blackboard.
"Knowing one or two spells to deal with Boggart, or becoming a Red Cap expert... would that be useful?"
Utterly useless!
"But why should we deal with these?" Marietta muttered softly. "We're safe..."
"Safety?"
Moody's magical eye turned, and he laughed, his scarred face twisting and grotesque.
He waved his wand, and a drawing appeared on the blackboard. Everyone gasped.
"Can anyone tell me what this is?" Moody looked around and then at Marietta. "Miss Edgecombe, you answer."
Marietta whispered, "The Dark Mark..."
"That's right," Moody sneered. "Just this summer, only a couple of weeks ago, the Dark Mark appeared at the Quidditch World Cup..."
As a former Auror, I have many sources of information... and know more detailed inside stories."
Everyone pricked up their ears, eager to hear the "insider information."
"Of course, I don't have as much inside information as Mr. Stark."
He killed the lake monster and rescued the kidnapped wizards... he was a witness to the whole event.
Moody's eyes were fixed on William, and the whole class turned their heads to look at him with burning eyes.
"Without Stark, how many people do you think the Lake Monster would have killed? Would those Death Eaters imprisoned in Azkaban have been released?"
The students all nodded.
Moody chuckled and shouted:
Children, put away your arrogance and your unrealistic fantasies.
This world is far from safe.
As far as I know, this school alone has had many accidents in recent years... You are far from death, but actually very close as well."
Everyone remained silent.
Moody nodded in satisfaction, then patted his rough hands and suddenly asked:
"Alright, so... does anyone know which spells will be punished most severely under wizarding law?"
Many students raised their hands.
Moody pointed at Judy Crouch.
"The Imperius Curse," she said.
"Ah, yes," Moody said approvingly.
Your uncle Crouch should have mentioned it.
Although it is the least harmful curse among the Unforgivable Curses, it is the most troublesome.
Back in the day, the Imperius Curse caused the Ministry of Magic a lot of trouble. Many Death Eaters used it as an excuse to escape prison!
Moody sneered, his face contorted in disgust, as if he loathed the outcome.
He struggled to his feet, supporting himself with his prosthetic leg, opened the drawer of the lectern, and took out a glass bottle.
There was a Dahei spider inside, crawling around non-stop.
Moody reached into the bottle, grabbed a spider, and placed it on his outstretched palm so everyone could see it.
Then he pointed his wand at it and murmured, "Imperio!"
The spider jumped off Moody's palm, suspended by a thin thread, and began to swing back and forth, like sitting on a high swing.
It stiffly straightened its legs, then turned and somersaulted, snapping 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, starting to dance a kind of tap dance.
Many students laughed, but Moody kept a straight face.
"You guys think it's fun, right?" he asked in a gruff voice.
"If I did this to you, making you dance, would you like it?"
The laughter stopped almost immediately, and everyone lowered their heads.
"Completely under my control," Moody said softly. "I can make it jump out of the window, drown itself, or leap into the throat of one of your classmates."
Of course, if I wanted, I could also replace the spiders with you, control you, and make you do things you would never do before.
Of those of you here, how many can withstand it?
Moody grabbed the somersaulting spider and threw it back into the glass bottle.
He slowly paced around the classroom.
"You are neither mentally prepared nor capable. Once you are subjected to these forbidden spells, you will have no chance to resist."
This year, I will lead everyone to witness many cruel forms of Dark Magic, and I will also teach everyone how to resist them.
He paused for a moment, then continued, "I came to Hogwarts at the invitation of the government for one purpose only:"
That is to make you experience your first war when there is no war.
Prepare yourself mentally, hone your magical skills, and then... grow up completely!
Everyone straightened up, looking solemnly at Professor Moody, moved by his words.
Everyone felt they had been elevated, and many students even harbored the idea of becoming Auror after graduation.
No... they're not in a Hogwarts classroom right now, they're in the Ministry of Magic's Auror training program.
Qiu suddenly lowered her voice and asked, "William, in the OWLs exam... for Defence Against Dark Magic, will we be tested on the Unforgivable Curses, or various forms of Dark Magic?"
"Defence Against Dark Magic won't be on the exam, but..." William shook his head and said softly, "Azkaban."
"..."
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