(hears rumbling outside) Ah, thunderstorms. The perfect medium for writing. And what a coinky-dink, as this chapter features a thunderstorm. So here we go. (lightning bolt hits the screen) DERPY!

Derpy (offscreen): Oops! My bad!

Disclaimers: I don't own either book franchise, all rights go to the owners.

During dinnertime, Val was trying some of the unique foods like escargot. "Who knew snails cooked right could taste so delicious?" She swallowed a snail, enjoying the taste of the salty slime.

One of the Beauxbatons girls who had joined the Gryffindors smiled at Valerie. "You'd be surprised by what our culture's food can bring."

Val smiled back and kept eating, biting into a macaron and savoring the raspberry flavor.

Soon after, everyone was talking before the Headmaster silenced them all. "Your attention, please! I'd like to say a few words." He placed a hand on a tower at the front. "Eternal glory. That is what awaits the student who wins the Triwizard Tournament. But to do this, that student must survive three tasks. Three extremely dangerous tasks."

"Jeez..." Val made a face at that. She tuned out as she noticed a man limp into the room before she jumped as the artificial thunder and lightning caused everyone to scream momentarily before the man made the ceiling storm vanish and started limping again.

"Bloody hell, that's Mad-Eye Moody," Ron whispered in astonishment.

"Alastor Moody? The Auror?" Hermione asked curiously.

Dean Thomas was confused. "Auror?"

"A Dark Wizard catcher. My uncle is an Auror for MACUSA." Val explained to Dean.

Ron nodded. "Old Mad-Eye's supposed to be mad as a hatter these days."

Val shrugged before she caught a whiff of something and nearly gagged; it smelled like old O positive blood.

"What's that he's drinking, d'you suppose?" Seamus asked, watching Mad-Eye drink from a flask: That was probably the cause of the smell.

"I don't know, but I don't think it's pumpkin juice." Harry confirmed her thoughts.

She wrinkled her nose slightly at the thought, looking up at the elder men as Mr. Crouch stepped forward and spoke. "After due consideration, the Ministry has concluded that for their own safety, no student under the age of 17 shall be allowed to put forth their name for the Triwizard Tournament. This decision is final!"

His statement caused an uproar among the younger students until Dumbledore stepped forward. "SILENCE!"

Everyone immediately quieted down before Dumbledore melted the tower to reveal a wooden goblet that lit up with blue fire before he looked at the students. "The Goblet of Fire. Anyone willing to submit themselves into the tournament need only write their name on a piece of parchment and throw it in the flame before this hour on Thursday night. Do not do so lightly! If chosen, there's no turning back. As from this moment, the Triwizard Tournament has begun."

Val watched the flames dance silently, frowning as she thought over what this could mean.

A few days later, the Hogwarts students were sitting in their Defense Against the Dark Arts looking at the new teacher as he introduced himself, writing his name on the board. "Alastor Moody. Ex-Auror, Ministry malcontent, and your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I'm here because Dumbledore asked me. End of story. Goodbye, the end. Any questions?"

When no one spoke, he continued on. "When it comes to the Dark Arts, I believe in a practical approach. But first, which of you can tell me how many unforgivable curses there are?"

Hermione answered first, as per usual. "Three, sir."

"And they are so named?" He asked as he wrote on the board again.

"Because they're unforgivable and illegal." Val continued Hermione's thoughts. "The usage of any one of those three will-"

"Earn you a one-way ticket to Azkaban. Correct." Moody growled.

Val raised her hand again. "Sir, if I may ask, why are we being told about these? Normally we wouldn't learn about them until seventh year."

Moody turned his prosthetic eye to look at her. "Yes, Miss Tod. That is very true. But I say you need to know what you're up against and prepared for the worst!"

Val took notice that he didn't turn around, wondering if he could see out of the back of his head.

Apparently he could because he saw Seamus putting his gum under his desk and told him off for it.

Moody turned and stepped forward. "So... which curse shall we see first?"

Ron looked up at him. "Um... my dad did tell me about one. The Imperius Curse."

Mad-Eye nooded knowledgeably. "Oh yeah, your father would know all about that. Gave the Ministry quite a bit of grief a few years ago. Perhaps this'll show you why."

Val watched as he took out a spider, enlarged it, and used the curse on it to make it jump around the room as he shouted, "Don't worry, she's completely harmless!"

Val watched as the spider jumped on her hand and crawled up her arm, completely unfazed by its creepiness as she lifted it up to look at her. "Hi there. I know how it feels to be controlled, believe me. I know mind control without a spell."

Moody smiled, impressed by her fearlessness before he brought the spider back to his hand and looked at the class. "Scores of witches and wizards have claimed that they only did You-Know-Who's bidding under the influence of the Imperius Curse. But here's the rub: How do we sort out the liars?"

He showed the Cruciatus Curse when Neville said it and when asked what the last Unforgivable Curse was, Hermione shook her head sadly, unable to say it.

"Avada Kedavra!" Moody cast a curse that killed the spider and gave Harry a bit of PTSD that Val took notice of and held her friend's hand gently.

"Killing Curse. Only one person is known to have survived it, and he's sitting in this room." Moody walked towards Harry, looking at him.

Both halflings looked up at the professor, the elder man licking his lips and taking a drink of the vile liquid in his flask as Val fought hard not to cover her mouth from the smell.

After class, Val tore down the steps quickly to get away from the others as she needed to think.

"Hey." Draco came up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You alright?"

Val shook her head. "No, that smell from Professor Moody's flask was just God awful. It was like old blood that had spoiled after a whole year."

He frowned slightly and looked at her. "That's usually the smell from Polyjuice Potion."

She looked at him in confusion. "Doesn't that usually change your appearance though?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Though I have no idea why he'd want to drink it."

"Unless he isn't Mad-Eye Moody." Val frowned in thought; it made sense due to how he acted and how he had shown them the Unforgivable Curses without restraint.

"But if he isn't Mad-Eye Moody, then who is he?" Draco frowned slightly.

Val looked at the blonde and shook her head. "I don't have the vaguest idea."

Yeah, Moody's a real mystery at the beginning of the story, but we'll see more clues as we go on. As always, read and review.