Chapter 4

- Alastor Moody -

"Alastor Moody," the new Dark Arts Professor said as a quick introduction before writing his name on the board sharply. Teddy wondered if he was angry, or if his voice always sounded like that. "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?"

No one raised their hands. Teddy had taken his seat beside Hermione, relatively close to the front of the classroom. Next to him was Ron and Harry.

"When it comes to the dark arts, I believe in a practical approach." Teddy didn't like how that sounded but he remained quiet and composed. The last time he'd met an Auror was at the World Cup, when they'd fired their wands at him, and Teddy was unsure of whether or not Professor Moody was the same. So as always, with every new teacher he had, had over the four years he'd been a Hogwarts, he tried to make a good first impression.

"Now, which of you can tell me how many unforgivable curses there are?"

Hermione's hand went up. "Three, sir."

"And they are so-named?"

"Because they are unforgivable. Use of any one of them will-" Hermione replied, a little uneasy.

"Will earn you a one way ticket to Azkaban. Correct." Professor Moody had written the word, 'Unforgivable' on the board and his croaky voice boomed across the classroom. "Now the ministry says you're too young to see what these curses do. I say different!" He slammed his hand on the desk in anger, causing most of the class to jump, before turning back to the board, his back to the class. "You need to know what you're up against, you need to be prepared, you need to find somewhere else to put your chewing gum other than the underside of your desk Mr Finnigan!"

Teddy spun around to see Seamus looking pale and whispering to his neighbor. " Aw no way, the old codger can see out the back of his head."

Professor Moody spun around, throwing the bit of chalk at Seamus. "I hear across classrooms!" He yelled. The room was quiet. "So, which curse shall we see first? Weasley!"

Ron practically jumped out of his skin. "Yes?"

"Give us a curse."

Ron sat their thinking. " Well, my dad did tell me about one... the Imperious curse."

"Ah yes, your father would know all about that. Gave the ministry quite a bit of grief a few years ago. Perhaps this will show you why." Moody grunted and he limped back to his desk. Teddy looked down to find the source of the limp, to realize the Professor had a metal leg. He looked back up as the Professor took something from one of the jars on his desk.

It was a small creature, that reminded Teddy of both a crab and a spider. Its large crab-like claws clicked loudly and Teddy could see Ron freeze in fear. "Engorgio!" Moody yells, pointing his wand, and the creature grew bigger till it was the size of his palm. "Imperio!"

Teddy watched but couldn't see anything happen. Then the professor flicked his wand and the creature landed on one of the desks. It was like a puppet on a string, the way it moved whenever and where ever the professor flicked his wand was scary. Yet the class thought it funny as the spider-crab jumped from student to student, landing on their hands, head, shoulders.

Teddy and Hermione however were not laughing. Teddy couldn't see what was funny.

Suddenly, he felt something on his hand. He looked down to see the creature crawling up his hand and arm. He flinched, repulsed.

"What's wrong, Lupin?" Draco laughed. "Surely you and your father look worse during full moons."

Teddy stood up, his chair scraping against the floor.

But suddenly, Draco stopped laughing and started to scream. The professor flung the creature off of Teddy's arm and onto Malfoy's face. Now Teddy was laughing, not at the creature of the curse, but at Malfoy's reaction.

The professor was giggling loudly. "Talented isn't she? What shall I have her do next? Jump out the window?" He flicked his hand and the creature hit the glass.

The laughter died out and Teddy sat back down. The professor has seemed to go into a sort of trance as he hover the creature over a bucket of water. "Drown herself?"

Finally, he summons the spider-crab back to his hand. "Scores of witches and wizards have claimed that they only do did You-Know-Whose bidding under the influence of the imperious curse. But here's the rub, how do we sort out the liars?"

It took a while for Teddy to realize he was asking the class. A few hesitant hands went up, but Moody was staring down at Neville, who eventually did the same. "Longbottom is it? Up." Neville stood up.

"Professor Sprout tells me you have an aptitude for herbology. Tell us your curse."

Neville looked almost faint, but was able to stammer a reply. "There's the um... The Cruciatus curse."

Moody sounded energetic, as if using the previous curse had pumped him full of adrenline. "Correct! Correct! Come, come." He brought Neville over to his desk, where he placed down the spider-crab. "Particularly nasty. The torture curse."

Teddy shook his head, wondering if he had heard the professor right. The toture curse? Surely, the professor wouldn't-

"Crucio!" A high pitched squeal echoed in the room. The spider-crab was rolling around on the desk in pain. Neville had closed his eyes and was breathing hard, as if trying to block out the noise. Teddy looked at the professor, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Stop it! Can't you see it's bothering him, stop it!" Hermione screamed and the professor stopped. He glanced up at Neville, who still had his eyes closed, before picking up the spider-crab and walking over to Teddy and Hermione's desk.

"Perhaps you could give us the last unforgivable curse Miss Granger."

Hermione shook her head.

Teddy barely had time to say anything before the professor shouted, "Avada Kedavra!", and the spider-crab curled up on its back. Dead.

The professor walked away, leaving the limp body on their desk. Teddy couldn't look away, yet every muscle in him was telling his to shut his eyes or look the opposite direction. "The killing curse. Only one person is known to have survived it. And he's sitting in this room."

Teddy didn't have to look up to guess who he was talking to. But he couldn't bring himself to look away from the creature, to Harry.

There was cheering as students went up one by one to place there name in the cup. Teddy was sitting beside Hermione on one of the benches in the Great Hall. Harry and Ron stood up, clapping. "Eternal glory, be brilliant wouldn't it?" Ron sighed. "In three years from now we'll be old enough to be chosen."

"Yeah well, rather you than me." Harry replied. "What do you think, Teddy?"

"I've thought about it. But, no. Not in a million years."

"But if you did, perhaps people wouldn't be so... prejudice to werewolves." Harry said, careful with words. "By the way, are you okay? After what Malfoy said in Defense Against the Dark Arts-"

"To be honest, no. I'm not fine." Teddy leaned back. "Malfoy can tease me about my clothes, my living conditions, my lycanthropy. But no one talks about my father like that."

The students around them cheering again as another student put his name into the burning goblet. Hermione cleared her throat, attempting to change the conversation. "Well, I for one think Teddy is right. It'd be completely suicidal to put your name in the Goblet of Fire."

Suddenly, the doors opened and Fred and George came running in, both holding a vial of green liquid.

"Thank you thank you, well lads we've done it." George said, holding up the vial for everyone to see. "Cooked it up just this morning."

"It's not going to work." Hermione said, rolling her eyes and looking down at the book in her hands. Both twins crouched down beside her.

"Oh yeah? And why's that Granger?"

Hermione pointed at the white circle that surrounded the Goblet of Fire. "You see this? This is an age line. Dumbledore drew it himself."

"So?"

Hermione almost laughed, closing her book and speaking as if talking to children. "So, a genius like Dumbledore couldn't possibly be fooled by something pathetically dimwitted such as an age potion."

"Yeah, but that's why it's so brilliant. Because it's so pathetically dimwitted!"

Even Teddy rolled his eyes at this. Both twins edged towards the circle. "Should we stop them?" He asked Hermione.

"I'd rather watch it unfold. It appears to be the only way those two learn anything."

"Ready Fred?"

"Ready George."

"Bottoms up!" They said together, taking a swig of the potion and jumping over the line. Nothing happened. "Yeeeaaah!"

Everyone congratulated them, before they plopped their names into the goblet. Nothing.

"Yes!"

"Wait, did that actually work?" Teddy whispered to Hermione, who had returned to reading her book.

"Three, two, one."

The Goblet of Fire lit up brightly and a stream of blue light sent both of the twins flying. They landed on the stone ground, groaning. "Ooo." Teddy winced. "That's gotta hurt."

Both then he laughed. When the twins stood up, their hair had turned white and long beards were growing from their chins.

"You said-"

"You said-"

They both started tackling each other on the ground and students began to clap in time. "Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!"

Teddy didn't join in on the chanting, but he couldn't control his laughter. He glanced down at Hermione who just shook her head, an unimpressed look on her face. Then the doors opened, and everyone went silent. Even the twins stopped fighting.

Viktor Krum, followed by his Headmaster, Igor, marching into the room. Viktor walked straight up to the cup and put the small piece of parchment with his name inside. Hermione had glanced up and teddy saw Viktor looking in her direction before leaving. "This is gonna be an epic Thursday night isn't it?" Teddy said, without waiting for an answer.