The Wall of Stone

This Harry Potter story was written for fun. All rights belong to the wonderful lady (JK Rowling) who gave the world Harry Potter to read and enjoy.

++***++ Introduction:

The Goblet of Fire isn't a simple artefact – it possesses vast amounts of magic, a rudimentary sentience, and multiple sets of rules for past Triwizard Tournaments. The goblet gets aggravated by interfering wizards, throws out the rules, and takes steps to protect the underage contestant who is drafted into the contest.

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Chapter 4 Moody's Defence Lessons

The fourth year Gryffindor and Slytherin students entered the DADA classroom quietly in November. Everyone was muttering about the First Task that would occur in just a few days – would Potter survive the task, whatever it was?

Draco Malfoy, who remained quiet in recent days, didn't harangue Harry Potter about the task. Ron Weasley remained a loner in Gryffindor and didn't speak out against the Slytherins – no one would have his back if he got into a fight with the snakes today.

Professor Moody stomped into the room with his peg leg booming on the stone floors with each step. Harry wondered, 'Does the man cast a cushioning charm on the stump of his leg before he attaches the peg leg? Why doesn't he use a more realistic prosthetic? A muggle doctor could provide one that's the correct size to balance his steps. Wizards don't have any imagination.'

Keeping his musings to himself, Harry watched his friends prepare for Professor Moody's class. The scarred Auror (retired) placed his hands on his hips and addressed the class.

"Today, we're going to begin the study of the Unforgivable Curses, the three spells that are forbidden to cast against humans. When you're caught casting the spell, you'll be sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban if – remember I said 'if' – you are convicted," Moody declared. "But don't worry, the Ministry for Magic never enforces the law equally – purebloods are above the law. Only half-bloods and mud…muggleborn are convicted."

Some of the pureblood students smirked but others looked confused by the professor's opening statement. The half-bloods and muggleborn students stared back at the Auror as they continued to expand their understanding of the power dynamics in Magical Britain.

"Now, I shall begin by casting the Imperious Curse on each of you. This spell captures your free will completely and totally, leaving you under the control of the wizard who cast the spell."

"Wait," Hermione Granger protested. "You just said it was illegal to cast these spells on people. How can you cast it on us? We're kids in a classroom!"

"Exactly! You're students and I am your professor who is going to educate you. How are you going to know what it feels like if you don't go under the curse? How will you know what to look for in the people around you before they pull out their wands and curse you in the back when you think they are protecting you?"

"That makes no sense," Daphne Greengrass said. When Patsy Parkinson made a rude comment about the muddies needing to feel it, Greengrass replied, "And you? How are you going to react when Moody casts it on you?"

"He wouldn't…I'm a pureblood!" Patsy insisted.

"Headmaster Dumbledore knows that we are going to study the Unforgiveable Curses in this class. Today is the Imperious, tomorrow is the Cruciatus Curse, and Friday, we'll study Avada Kedavra, the killing curse."

Harry noticed that Neville was pale and had to sit down, and he also noticed that several people looked his way, thinking about the experience of the Boy-Who-Lived with the AK on Halloween 1981.

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At the back of the Great Hall, the Goblet of Fire listened to the conversation in the DADA classroom via helpful portraits, and prepared its protective magic again. The goblet's mind decided, 'We can work with this! Huzzah! Cry Havoc and Let Slip the Dogs of War!' (Julius Caesar Act 3, Scene 1. Marc Antony)

The goblet burped with satisfaction, a puff of red magic flew out of the cup and moved through the hallways to the DADA classroom.

'William Shakespeare was a very nice squib,' the goblet remembered. During its fifty years in the Department of Mysteries under London, the goblet had absorbed much knowledge from the culture around him and found the opportunity to read several Shakespeare plays when books were left lying around. 'All the wizards think he was a squib. They can't imagine he was full-blooded muggle.'

The goblet's small flame brightened for a moment, 'I wonder if they've got any of Willie's original manuscripts here at Hogwarts? Maybe the original folio? Maybe something written by his own hand?'

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Casting the Imperious

In the DADA class, Moody asked, "Do I have a volunteer to suffer…to fall under the Imperious Curse first? Thank you, Mr Potter, for volunteering so quickly."

Harry hadn't moved or even looked at the professor but rose without protest and moved to the front of the classroom. All the Gryffindor students moved in the corner beside Harry, and they motioned for the Slytherin students to join them.

"Why?" asked Daphne Greengrass.

Hermione said simply, "You'll want to be behind the wall."

Recognizing what the muggleborn witch meant, the students from Slytherin hurried over to stand with the Gryffindors. Seamus Finnigan cast a spell on Ron Weasley to make him fall asleep before he could protest about the 'slippery snakes' standing with them.

Just as some red magic slipped into the room, Moody grinned manically and lifted his wand toward Harry Potter and cast, "Imperio!"

Everyone stared as the blue spell formed and left the wand. The goblet's red magic wrapped around the Imperious curse as it flew across the space from the professor to the student. Then the spell hit the wall of stone that formed to throw the professor into the far wall. The wall absorbed the blue spell, Harry called out in pain and reached his hand up to the scar on his forehead that leaked black pus as if an infection was being purged.

A house elf who looked suspiciously like Dobby Free Elf, appeared with a clean cloth to wipe up the pus and the banish the rag into nothingness. The quick application of a healing salve, and Harry's scar began to heal after thirteen years. The elf was gone so quickly, Hermione Granger never noticed though Draco Malfoy did.

Casting the Unforgiveable Curse (Imperious) at Harry Potter, triggered the wall of stone to appear. The wall protected the boy (and his friends) from Moody's (Crouch's) magic. And the wall of stone used the evil intent of Barty Crouch, Jr's spell to grab hold onto and pull the soul leech that had hung onto the child for thirteen years. It grabbed the miniscule part of Tom Riddle's soul to eat, dissipate and destroy it.

The young wizard felt the leech being pulled from his head, but it wasn't more unpleasant than a brief headache.

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Dancing Lesson

However, in Little Hangleton, the Imperious Curse slammed into the magical core of Lucius Malfoy/Tom Riddle as the goblet's sympathetic magic affected the wizard who ordered the inclusion of Potter into the Triwizard Tournament.

The fake Alastor Moody intended to use the curse to humiliate each student – Harry Potter would be forced to dance around the classroom while under the curse. As a consequence, Malfoy/Riddle began humming and dancing around the dirty lounge. Whenever he drew close to Peter Pettigrew, Malfoy/Riddle kicked the other wizard in the shin, leg, posterior and thigh.

Finally, working together Lucius Malfoy and Tom Riddle managed to throw off the curse before collapsing into a chair. The wizards were confused by the arrival of the spell and the command to dance and kick Pettigrew.

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Casting the Cruciatus

The next day, the Gryffindor and Slytherin fourth year students gathered for the demonstration of the second Unforgivable curse, the Cruciatus. This curse caused the victim indescribable pain as every nerve ending was tortured endlessly so long as the curse was held by the caster. There were multiple victims of this curse in the Janus Thackery Ward at Saint Mungo's Hospital in London. Harry understood that Neville's parents were among those patients, but he never questioned his friend about it.

Listening to the hidden wizard speaking to his class of student, the Goblet of Fire considered all the magic available and found another piece of the Dark Lord Tom Riddle hidden in Hogwarts. The Goblet burped again and sent another bit of red magic flying through the castle to the seventh floor to pass through the wall into a multi-dimensional space and search for Ravenclaw's Diadem hidden in the detritus of a thousand years. The magic settled on the diadem and waited.

In the classroom, Moody described the effects of the spell on humans and detailed the long-term effects of extended exposure. Harry wondered, 'It's almost as if Professor Moody wants to torture Neville. Why would he do that?'

When the professor pointed to a large spider he'd selected from a jar and cast the spell, the yellow spell formed, flew from the wand, and impacted the suddenly appearing wall of stone that absorbed the magic and threw Moody back against the far wall again that day.

The students waited until the professor struggled back to his feet and dismissed them before they fled to the library to hide until time for dinner.

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Pain for Tom Riddle/Lucius Malfoy

In Little Hangleton again, there was an inexplicable episode that afternoon; Lucius/Tom writhed in agony for three minutes. The possessed wizard lay on the floor, panting as the pain continued to be amplified through his nerves.

"What was that?" demanded Tom Riddle. "I've never felt anything like that!"

In their shared mind, Lucius carefully explained, "My Lord, that was a powerful Cruciatus Curse."

"That was the Cruciatus?" Tom asked, unbelieving.

"Yes, my lord. Send Pettigrew to purchase or steal a half dozen pain relievers and the Cruciatus Repair potion."

"Won't your magic repair the damage?"

"No, my lord. I have been subjected to the curse too often in the past to curer the damage," Malfoy explained, leaving unsaid that it was the Dark Lord who subjected Lucius to the spell's pain and curse.

With Lucius Malfoy's Gringotts bottomless money bag, Pettigrew was sent to Bristol to purchase the highest quality potions. The rat Animagus was glamoured by Lucius/Tom to appear as a particularly hideous witch. The wizard was gone for almost two hours because he had to apparate in steps across England.

Peter finally returned with the potions and administered three pain potions in less than eight hours as well as one dose of the Cruciatus Repair potion. That potion was labelled as poisonous if taken more than once every 24 hours. Pettigrew had ignored the similar warning on the pain reliever potion because Lucius/Tom demanded relief from the pain and threatened Peter with the Cruciatus curse if he didn't hand over the potion bottle.

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Casting the Avada Kedavra

It was the day before the First Task and time for the demonstration of the third and last Unforgiveable in the DADA class. The Avada Kedavra curse killed instantly, without pain but without any chance of surviving (until Harry Potter survived the Dark Lord's attack on Halloween 1981). There were more conversations shared between the Gryffindors and Slytherins than usual. Parkinson remained adamant that the Purebloods shouldn't talk with the blood traitors, half-bloods, and mudbloods of Gryffindor but Greengrass, Nott, Zabini and Davis talked with the students from the other house freely. Even Draco Malfoy talked with Harry Potter and Hermione Granger about the essay on the Cruciatus Curse due that morning.

In the Great Hall, the Goblet of Fire studied for a longer time concerning the magic of Tom Riddle that remained in the world. The snake at his side, Hufflepuff's Cup hidden in Gringotts, and Slytherin's Locket hidden in London.

'The Locket…yes, the Locket. If Gringotts explodes, the goblins and wizards will go to war,' the goblet thought and sent a patch of red magic flying across the length of Great Britain.

In the DADA classroom, Alastor Moody appeared to be sore and walking carefully to not aggravate sore or torn muscles after the experiences of the last two days. But he was determined to get through the class. He took a drink from his ever-present flask, sucked in a breath, and then began.

"Today, we'll look at the third Unforgiveable Curse. Known as the killing curse, the Avada Kedavra kills instantly and no one with a single exception of Mr Potter has ever survived being hit with the spell."

None of students asked any questions though everyone of them kept their wand drawn. Moody continued, "In my experience in battle, a large chunk of stone or muggle concrete will absorb the magic of the green spell and save the target – until the next AK is thrown their way."

Drawing his wand, Moody turned to a terrarium filled with mice. He levitated out a grey mouse, placed it on the top of a desk, and stepped back. Lifting his wand nervously, Alastor Moody cast, "Avada Kedavra."

The bright green light formed at the tip of the wand and flew toward the mouse. Like the previous two days, the wall of stone appeared and absorbed the unforgiveable before fading away as quickly as it had appeared.

Everyone turned to look at Harry Potter who simply shrugged. Unlike the first day when Moody attempted to cast the Imperious Curse, there wasn't any black sludge flowing from the scar on his forehead. It was like the second day when Moody cast the Cruciatus Curse and nothing happened to the spider, Harry or any of the other students. The wall of stone absorbed the spell without any ill effects on anything or anyone.

And this time, Moody wasn't thrown about. Aggravated, Alastor growled, "Class dismissed!"

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Cleaning Slytherin's Locket

In faraway London, in a decrepit townhouse filled with cursed objects, dust bunnies, and a pair of former Gryffindor students, there was a loud clang of magic striking metal just as Moody's AK was absorbed by the wall of stone.

Sirius Black looked around and asked, "What the bloody cauldron was that?"

The other wizard, Remus Lupin, replied, "That sounded like a powerful spell just hit some magical object in the house."

Black frowned and called, "Kreacher! Kreacher come here!"

The was a loud pop that exploded with dust from the floor and made the werewolf and Grim Animagus both sneeze a half dozen times. Finally, Sirius concentrated on the dirty, old elf who stood before him in a filthy tea towel as a tunic. What was unusual was that the house elf was crying and holding onto an antique locket with a snake emblem in the shape of the letter 'S' on the front.

"Bad, disappointment of a master disturbs Kreacher while he remembers good master Regulus Black who gives life to hurt that mudblood Dark Lord pretender Tom Riddle!" Kreacher blubbered. "Mistress was so wrong about Dark Lord who kills her best son. Kreacher tries for twelve years to destroy hated locket full of darkest magic but nothing work. Then Magic destroys the soul of idiot Mud Lord and locket not be dark lord's vessel no more."

"Finally, Kreacher can rest." The elf paused and looked closely at the wizards before him before shaking his head and continuing, "Mistress be unhappy that only son left is dressed in dirty clothes with nothing to eats in dirty kitchen. Kreacher sleep for ten hours and then gets to work. Must wash Disappointment, his clothes, and house. Then cook foods to make Disappointments well again."

The elf popped away, causing a dust storm to erupt again making Sirius and Remus sneeze again.

"What did he mean about washing you?" Remus asked and Sirius frowned.

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In Little Hangleton, Lucius/Tom tried to sleep through the day because the pain from yesterday's experience with the Cruciatus continued to create pain. The possessed wizard cried in fear when the bright green spell flew through its mind, killing another part of the Dark Lord's soul and magic. Tom cried piteously for an hour and then demanded a pain potion.

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