"You can put those away."
They had gathered in the ominous classroom that collected little light, with their backs straight and their books resting on the table as customary. It would've been a lie to say that a student in the classroom at the moment did not hold a single ounce of respect for the man that had been heard by his distinct clunking footsteps and frightening face.
"Those books," he growled, "you won't need them." With a cluster of slight huffs and the rustling and clicks of bags being opened and books being shoved in, soon all the desks were cleared and backs lay straight again; though one girl, towards the back of the room, hidden in a shadow, simply looked out the window, not bothering to listen to what the infamous auror had to say.
Moody took out a register, shook his long mane of grizzled gray hair out of his twisted and scarred face, and began to call out names, his normal eye moving steadily down the list while his magical one swiveled around, fixing upon each student as he or she answered. But the girl payed no mind, simply continuing to stare out of the window.
"Daphne Greengrass," she flushed, and nodded once with an affirmative 'hmm' while the ex-auror growled in discontent. "Right then," he said, when the last person had declared themselves present, "I've had a letter from Professor Lupin about this class. Seems you've had a pretty thorough grounding in tackling Dark creatures- you've covered Boggarts, Red Caps Hinkypunks, Grindylows, Kappas, and Werewolves, is that right?" There was a general murmur of assent, and Moody continued on, seemingly unimpressed. The girl, at this moment, chose to look ahead and pay attention to the lesson. The auror's tone was... captivating in a strange way.
"But you're behind- very behind- on dealing with curses," said Moody. "So I'm here to bring you up to scratch on what wizards can do to each other. I've got one year to teach you how to deal with Dark-"
"What? Aren't you staying?" Someone blurted out, and the girl wrinkled her nose disdainfully. Moody's magical eye, however, spun around to stare at a certain red-haired student, whom looked extremely apprehensive. But, after a moment, he smiled- the first time anyone in the class had seen him do so. The effect was to make his heavily scarred look more twisted and contorted than ever, but it was nevertheless good to know that he ever did anything as friendly as smile. By the look of his sagging shoulders, Ron Weasley appeared to be deeply relieved.
"You'll be Arthur Weasley's-" and the girl stared out the window again, letting the useless conversation wash over her and crossing her eyes to the point where everything was blurred together by lines of flaring light. "- Dark curses," and she snapped back into focus.
"You're not supposed to be old enough to deal with it till then. But Professor Dumbledore's got a higher opinion of your nerves, he reckons you can cope, and I say, the sooner you know what you're up against, the better. How are you supposed to defend yourself against something you've never seen? A wizard who's about to put an illegal curse on you isn't going to tell you what he's about to do. He's not going to do it nice and polite to your face. You need to be prepared. You need to be alert and watchful. You need to put that away, Miss Brown, when I'm talking, and you need to give me your attention, Miss Greengrass, when I am teaching!" Moody suddenly snapped, and both the witches in kind jumped and blushed. "So..." Alastor Moody continued once the classes attention was back to him, "do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by wizarding law?" Several hands rose tentatively into the air, but Daphne Greengrass simply shrunk into her seat, a blush still bright on her face. It was only her luck that led Moody to point at her, and she wiped her features clean of all emotion, her blush dying away instantly. "Let's see if your brains can compensate for your inattentiveness, Greengrass." The girl sat up straight, and stared at the muggle blackboard that stood behind the grizzled professor.
"The Imperius Curse." She stated simply, and with a single nod, the class turned back to their teacher, leaving more than one student with a slightly dejected look.
"Yes. The Imperius." Moody got up heavily to his mismatched feet, opened his desk drawer, and took out a glass jar. Three black spiders were scuttling around inside. She saw more than one person shift in their seat uneasily and tense up. "The control curse. The submissive curse. Absolute bidding unto anyone it is cast upon." He reached into the jar, caught one of the spiders, and held it in the palm of his hand so that they could all see it. Then, with a point of his wand he muttered a word not many would ever dare using. "Imperio!"
The spider leapt from Moody's hand on a fine thread of silk and began to swing backward and forward as though on a trapeze. It stretched out its legs rigidly, the did a back flip, breaking the thread and landing on the desk, where it began to cartwheel in circles. Moody jerked his wand, and the spider rose onto two of its hind legs and went into what was unmistakably a tap dance. The class burst into laughter, but the girl hidden in the shadow's did not even crack a smile, her face was drawn pale, and any signs of the lingering blush that was on it had drained away completely. It was almost curious, however, that there was one other student who's shoulders didn't shake either, and they belonged to someone who sat in the front with unmistakable, messy, black hair. She stared at him with inquisition, but he did not turn to look back at her.
"Think it's funny, do you?" Moody growled, and Daphne's gaze snapped back to the man. "You'd like it, would you, if I did it to you?" The laughter died away almost instantly. "Total control," Moody repeated quietly as the spider balled itself up and began to roll over and over. "I could make it jump out of the window, drown itself down one of your throats..." Someone gulped, and red head shuddered.
"Years back, there were a lot of witches and wizards being controlled by the Imperius Curse," everyone knew what he was alluding to. "Some job for the Ministry, trying to sort out who was being forced to act, and who was acting of their own free will.
The Imperius Curse can be fought, and I'll be teaching you how, but it takes real strength of character, and not everyone's got it. Better avoid being hit with it if you can. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he barked, and everyone jumped. Moody picked up the somersaulting spider and threw it back into the jar. "Anyone else know one? Another illegal curse?" More hands flew into the air once more, but Moody once again pointed to someone whom was cowering in their seat, an almost predatory smirk curling its way around his lopsided lips until his face fell back into a mask of indifference. "Longbottom?"
"There's one- the C-cruciatus Curse," the boy spoke in a small, but distinct voice. Moody was now looking very intently at him, this time with both eyes. Slowly, he reached into the jar for the next spider and placed it upon the desktop where it remained motionless, apparently too scared to move.
"The Cruciatus Curse," said Moody. "Needs to be a bit bigger for you to get the idea," he pointed his want at the spider and whispered, "Engorgio!" Everyone watched in bated fascination as the arachnid grew. The spider swelled, it was now larger than a tarantula. Abandoning all pretense, several people pushed their chair backwards as far away from the professor's desk as possible. Moody disregarded their actions and raised his wand again. He pointed it at the spider.
"Crucio!" At once, the spider's legs bent in upon its body; it rolled over and began to twitch horribly, rocking from side to side. No sound came from it, but Harry was sure that it was given a voice, it would have been screaming. Moody did not remove his wand, and the spider started to shudder and jerk more violently.
"Stop it!" Someone yelled out shrilly. Daphne looked away, sickened, and her gaze fell upon the Longbottom boy. His hands were clenched upon the desk in front of him, his knuckled white, hie eyes wide and horrified. Moody raised his wand. The spider's legs relaxed, but it continued to twitch.
"Reducio," he muttered, and the spider shrank back to its proper size. He put it back into the jar. "Pain," he spoke softly. "You don't need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can perform the Cruciatus Curse... That one was very popular too." It was silent for a few seconds in horrified silence. "Right... anyone know any others?" She looked around again at the many, slightly shaky, raised hands. But, just like the other two, Moody called on an unwilling accomplice. "Potter."
All eyes fell on the boy who sat at the front next to his red haired friend. And all noticed how- unlike everyone else- his face remained stony and absolute, with a look of pure loathing for the man that stood at the front. Each watched with bated horror as Harry Potter slowly raised his wand off the desk, and pointed it at the ex-Auror that stood in front of them. It was still for less than a second, and then, the Wizarding World's Savior obliterated all previous notions and prejudices and beliefs as his mouth started to shape words.
"Avada Kedavra," everyone stared towards the green-eyed boy in shock. And all time seemed to halt. Just three seconds later, Alastor Moody burst into crazed laughter as he applauded and pounded a hand on his desk.