...GOoHS...
Chapter 8
The TriWizard Champions
'ALASTOR MOODY'
Harry read the name written in large letters on the blackboard in front of the classroom. The man the name belonged to stared at them intensely, as if analyzing them one by one. When his rampant blue eye settled on him, he tried to suppress a shudder.
Mad-Eye Moody he was called, according to his dad and his godfather's fond stories. Their new professor must know that Harry and Lucas were James' children and was still probably cross at his and Sirius' immature pranks on him while they were still in training. Sirius Black even claimed that he had been the one who came up with Mad-Eye Moody and it had stuck, much to their amusement.
Harry didn't find it so amusing now. Once Moody's eye moved away from him, Harry breathed more easily.
"As I understand it, you've had Remus Lupin as your professor last year," he began, leaning into his staff. "He wrote to me about your class' progress. He tells me you've tackled creatures last year but you are behind. Very much behind."
No one breathed a word. Not even Lucas, who would normally brighten up at the mention of his godfather, Remus Lupin.
Moody picked up a chalk and started writing a single word on the board: CURSES. Harry heard Hermione's sharp intake of breath.
"You are very much behind on curses." Moody tapped on the board with much more force than necessary. "I only have one year to teach you and I intend to bring you up to speed on what wizards can do to each other."
Everyone in the classroom who knew about curses shifted uncomfortably in their seats.
"Today's lesson in particular," Moody continued. "is all about the Unforgivables." He seemed to take delight in the gasps and cries of outrage from the students in front of him. "Oh, yes, yes the Ministry firmly believes that I teach you countercurses and leave it at that until you're old enough to be exposed to the illegal darker stuff but I say different!"
He threw the chalk he had been holding harshly onto the blackboard tray. "You need to be prepared and you need to know what you're up against!"
Harry briefly thought of his father and Sirius and how they managed to pull pranks and make fun of the man. Did they truly tire of living? He caught Lucas' eye and he too, looked as horrified as he was about Moody.
"So," their new teacher growled, limping closer to the front row seats. "can anyone tell me how many Unforgivables there are?"
For a moment, no one raised their hands, too stunned at tackling such a heavy subject on their first day. It was only for a moment though, and then a few hands rose hesitantly into the air. Two of them were Ron and Hermione's.
Harry, of course, had read about the Unforgivable Curses and knew about them but that didn't mean that he was comfortable with discussing it. He and Lucas had grown up with the knowledge that they had narrowly missed death and had been exposed to the deadliest of the three curses. While Lucas had been the one who was hit, Harry was the one to take the brunt of the dark magic. You-Know-Who and his damned Unforgivable Curses were, to Harry, the bane of his family's existence.
Moody pointed his finger at Hermione. "Yes?"
"T-Three, sir." Hermione said shakily.
"And they are so named?"
Hermione swallowed thickly. "Because the use of any one of them will—"
"Will earn you a one-way ticket to Azkaban." Moody finished for her. He turned to his class again. "So… which curse shall we see first? Hands up, give us one."
Fewer hands than before rose up and again, Ron and Hermione's were up as well. Moody's rotating eyeball fixed on Ron this time, and he barked, "Weasley!"
Ron jumped in his seat and hurriedly stammered out his answer. "M-My dad told me about one. T-The Imperius Curse."
His voice turned up at the end as if he wasn't sure about his answer. Moody didn't contradict him. In fact, he nodded in understanding.
"Oh, yes, your father would know all about that. Gave the Ministry a bit of grief a few years ago. Perhaps this will show you why." He hobbled over to his desk and pulled out a jar with three live spiders inside it. Ron whimpered in his seat when he saw it. Moody opened the jar and pulled out one of the spiders, laying it out on his palm.
Harry turned away when he cast the curse at the spider. He heard his classmates gasp and then laugh. Harry quickly stole a glance at what embarrassing torture their hardened professor had bestowed on the poor creature. The spider was now tap-dancing on Hermione and Ron' table. They had both wanted to sit in front for different reasons but since Harry was not eager to be so close to Moody, they couldn't share a table. He sat beside Lucas on the table behind them instead.
"Think that's funny do you? Would it still be as funny if I tell her to jump out the window? Drown herself?"
The laughter instantly stopped.
"Lucky for you, the Imperius Curse can be fought. Takes real strength of character though. I'll be teaching you how this term."
Harry's decidedly avoided his blue eye as it swept past the students. It lingered on his brother for a moment longer though, as evidenced by Lucas quickly ducking his gaze away. Harry tuned out Moody and the rest of the class, deciding not to engage in the topic. Lucas was different. He listened with rapt attention. Harry guessed Dumbledore or his tutors didn't expose him to the Unforgivable Curses yet.
They taught him about Voldemort and his Death Eaters but not about the curses they used liberally. Go figure.
"Would anyone like to tell us about the last curse?"
Harry jerked at that. The last curse? They had gone by the second one so quickly apparently. He spotted Neville a few tables away looking very white. He kept staring at the spider Moody must have tortured in front of him. It was still twitching pitifully on his desk.
In front of Harry, Hermione raised her hand again shakily. Moody grunted and limped over to her.
"Well?"
"A-Avada Kedavra" Hermione said shakily.
"Hmm…" Moody turned and summoned a spider from the jar. It zoomed to his outstretched hand in seconds. Very slowly, he set it down on Hermione's desk. Ron backed away immediately.
With one swift motion, Moody cast the last of the Unforgivables at the spider. A bright green light flashed briefly from his wand and the spider instantly turned into itself and twitched once before it stopped moving altogether. Harry's fingers tingled again and something warm spread over him but it disappeared quickly. He had felt this before at the World Cup, this surge of energy. He had felt it after seeing the Dark Mark and then, he had been overcome with the desire to strangle Lucas. Harry shivered and took a deep breath.
"The Killing Curse. Very deadly. There's no countercurse. There's no blocking it. Only one person is said to have survived it. And he's sitting right here in this room."
Harry felt Lucas stiffen beside him as the class and both of Moody's eyes focused on him.
October 31st, 1994
Before they knew it, a nearly two months had passed by and it was already Halloween. True to their agreement during the welcome feast, Harry, Ginny, Lucas, and Ron, as well as a few willing Gryffindors, played Quidditch during their free time. They didn't do it as often as they would have liked, since Lily had warned them beforehand that they shouldn't over-exert Harry just because he felt better now.
To Harry's relief, the effects of what happened to him that night at the World Cup hadn't faded yet. If anything, he seemed to feel a lot more energized, especially after Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons. They had moved on to practical lessons a week after learning theories and copying down information from Moody's blackboard. Their practical lesson was all about fighting the Imperius Curse.
Strangely, unlike his classmates who were left pale and clammy after being subjected to the Imperius Curse, Harry felt more energized. Even Lucas, who had been under the spotlight since the Killing Curse fiasco, wasn't immune to the Imperius Curse's after-effects.
"I don't know how you do it mate," Ron said, still shaking slightly as he took a big sip of pumpkin juice. He had embarrassed himself quite badly during today's practical lessons. "Everyone but you looks miserable."
Harry didn't get to answer Ron as they heard loud footsteps heading towards them.
"They're crazy!" yelled Hermione indignantly as she stomped towards the Gryffindor table. Harry looked up to see what had gotten her so riled up when Fred and George stumbled in after her, trying to tear each other's hair out.
Their noticeably white hair and… beards?
The student body laughed at their appearance and loud fighting. Even the foreign students seemed amused. Hermione sat down angrily beside Harry and began to explain. Ron and Ginny, who had been busy laughing at their brothers, immediately turned to her attentively.
"Those two idiots seemed to think a simple Ageing Potion would be enough to bypass the Age Line that Professor Dumbledore himself drew," Hermione huffed, her arms crossing again as a sign of her extreme disapproval.
For a while, the entire student body amused themselves with the Weasley twins' bickering until the teachers settled on their table at the front. Everyone quieted down and Dumbledore, seeing the twins' predicament, chuckled mirthfully and waved his hand. Fred and George's appearance instantly changed back to how it had been before they turned into old men.
Dumbledore chuckled again. "I should hope, that what had happened to Mr. Fred and George Weasley is enough to deter any underaged thrill seekers. However, forgive me if you do indeed have these urges, as I'm afraid submissions are officially closed. The Goblet of Fire shall choose our three champions tonight. But first, let the feast begin."
The feast was as splendid as it always had been but for the first time since Harry's stint at Hogwarts, no one looked interested in the food as they all had one eye on the Goblet of Fire. Dumbledore and the teachers seemed to notice too because the students had finished eating so quickly and were now openly gazing at the flaming goblet.
Sighing, the Hogwarts headmaster stood up and made his way to the Goblet of Fire. "The time is upon us, dear students. In mere moments, the Goblet will reveal to us our three chosen champions. Once called, I must remind you once again, that there is no turning back. Once your name has been drawn from these fires, it will constitute a binding magical contract that you will be obligated to honor.
"That being said, our champions will kindly go to Professor McGonagall," Dumbledore gestured to Professor McGonagall who stood near the door to the trophy room behind the teacher's table. "and await further instructions."
As if sensing that Dumbledore was done with this speech, the goblet's blue flames suddenly turned red and flared up higher. It expelled a smoking piece of parchment. Dumbledore caught it with surprising agility. He read the name on the parchment quickly and the entire hall waited with bated breaths to find out who it was.
"The champion for Durmstrang," said Dumbledore, opening out his arms. "is Viktor Krum!"
The Great Hall erupted into roars of triumph and loud squeals from Viktor Krum's fan club. Ron looked absolutely delighted that Viktor Krum had been chosen, as was Lucas. They were among those that had roared enthusiastically.
Krum stood from the Slytherin table and went to Professor McGonagall as instructed and disappeared behind the door behind her.
"That's what a champion should look like," Harry heard Lee Jordan tell the Weasley twins. Fred and George immediately clobbered him. Harry and the others who saw, sniggered.
Harry leaned towards Hermione and whispered, "Ageing Potion is the stupidest method I can think of to bypass Dumbledore's age line. Good thing they got stopped before they could even put their names in. Merlin, think of the chaos at having one of them as our champion."
Hermione raised an eyebrow at what Harry said. "Of course it's the stupidest option. Not that you and I would know what would work better."
The goblet's fires turned red again and it spewed out another parchment. Fleur Delacour had been chosen as the Beauxbatons champion. She stood up and joined Viktor Krum in the trophy room.
Harry gave Hermione a mischievous look, which made him look so much like his father. "Oh, I don't know, I could think of a few…"
Hermione looked aghast. "You've given this a fair bit of thought, have you?"
Harry laughed. "Hermione, you know there are more obvious ways of bypassing an age line. One method was in Vetrova's Countercurses and Easy Fixes For The Wizard In Need. I lent you the book last summer, remember?"
Hermione obviously did not remember. She looked at Harry in disbelief. Harry ignored her accusing looks and clapped instead when Cedric Diggory's name was called as the Hogwarts champion. Dumbledore looked happy as he clapped Diggory's back and gestured for him to join the others in the trophy room.
"Excellent! We now have our three champions—" He was cut off by the Goblet roaring and expelling a fourth piece of parchment. The applause died down as everyone looked confused at the fourth piece of parchment. Dumbledore caught it and, without the same flourish and celebratory manner in which he read the previous three parchments, his eyes scanned the smoking piece of stationery.
"Harry Potter"
A/N: ooOOOOoohh sorry about cutting it off there lmao