"Professor Brain is here to test me, it seems he is worried I will use magic to remove your legs in class--"
Professor Moody croaked, "Laughed, "
"I must clarify in advance, Professor Bryan, if you expect me to teach by rote from the textbook, then I have nothing much to offer."
"As long as you don't actually remove the legs of the young wizard, Professor Moody--" Amortus smiled, "You can proceed at your own pace--"
Professor Moody snorted a few times, sounding like both a cough and a cold laugh.
"I received a letter from Professor Black, introducing the course. It seems you've gained quite a bit of basic knowledge about dealing with black magic creatures—have you learned how to deal with Bogies, the Redcap, Hinkypop, Griphook, Kneazles, and Werewolves?"
The students murmured their agreement in low voices.
"But in dealing with spells, you're still very lacking--very lacking," said Moody, "Therefore, I am prepared to show you what wizards do with each other. I have a year to teach you how to deal with black magic--"
"What?!" Ron exclaimed, becoming very excited, "You're going to teach us to duel?"
Not only Ron, many people were surprised. Many people secretly looked at Professor Brain to see what his reaction would be, but Professor Brain still remained calm and leaned there as if nothing had been heard. The young wizards knew that Professor Brain had officially begun teaching dueling in his PE class, while Professor Moody had just claimed that he would teach them how to defend against black wizard magic in class. This seemed like a show of rivalry.
"Red hair---"
Professor Moody's magical eye turned towards Ron, and only then did Ron realize what he had just done. He felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over his head, and his body immediately went stiff.
"Are you, yes, the son of Arthur Weasley, aren't you?" said Moody, whose scarred face became twisted and bizarre, but still it was clear that he was smiling.
"A few days ago, your father helped me get out of a very difficult situation."
Harry knew that Professor Moody was referring to the event mentioned in the newspaper, but perhaps out of caution for Professor Brain, Professor Moody did not continue. Instead, he started to discuss the plan.
"Oh, duel? Not a duel, Mr. Weasley's son, it's something even more thrilling, it's controlling thoughts, murder, torture. It's black magic that is often used for these things."
Professor Moody stood on the podium, leaning forward with his hideous face towards the young wizards in the classroom, his magical blue eyes moving around, as if he was deliberately trying to scare them. This seemed to be his style, and that's why he had lured Professor Brain here.
The Three Unforgivable Curses: Avada Kedavra, Imperio, and Crucio.
Professor Moody officially began his lesson, asking the young wizards to recite the three curses that were strictly prohibited by the Ministry of Magic in turn, and he showed them to them. Professor Moody easily captured the attention of the young wizards, immersing them in the dangerous curses. Even Harry forgot that Professor Brain was in this classroom.
Seeing the bewildered young wizards, Amortus smiled slightly.
Suddenly, memories flooded back to him of when he was at Hogwarts, on the night of his fifth year, when he first encountered the most feared Unforgivable Curse. At the time, he was indeed startled; the Avada Kedavra curse did indeed possess a very effective ability to take away a person's life. However, with time passing and so many years having passed since then, these curses were no longer taboos in his eyes. After all, there are many spells capable of cruelly taking away human life, and these curses are not absolutely invincible either.
"Very unpleasant---"
After a dazzling green light, the classroom fell into absolute silence, as if a grim reaper was hovering in the air with his scythe, eyeing everyone with malice.
Scanning the classroom with a calm voice, Professor Moody swept the dead spider off the podium and said,
"Unpleasant, and there is no way to resist it. As far as people know, only one person has escaped this spell, and he is sitting right in front of me now."
Professor Moody's two eyes were fixed on Harry, and Harry felt his face reddening. He could feel the students in the class all turning their heads to look at him. Harry stared at the empty blackboard, seemingly fascinated by it, but in fact, he saw nothing.
"Just as I said—"
Professor Moody turned his gaze back to the students, speaking calmly,
"In a certain period, these curses were once used for cruel governance, causing huge trouble to the Ministry of Magic, so the Ministry defined them as unforgivable. Using any of these spells on humans is enough to make you go to Azkaban for life. This is what you need to defend yourself against, this is what I am going to teach you to defend yourself against. You need to be prepared, need to be on your guard. The most important thing is that you always need to stay alert and never lose focus. Take out your quills and write these down."
The classroom was immediately filled with the sound of rustling, as the young wizards were all busily writing notes. Professor Moody looked towards Amortas Brennan by the window, who seemed to be melting into a ray of sunlight, and he pulled out a flask and downed several swigs in quick succession.
"How do you think, Professor Brain?"
Professor Moody's blue magical eye turned and stared into the skull when he stood in front of Amortas.
"Hmm, what?"
Shaking his eyelids as he was dazed, Amortas asked with a doubtful tone.
"My lesson!"
Professor Moody's cheek and eyelids twitched simultaneously. He suddenly felt a surge of temptation to cast a Killing Curse at Brennan, the man who had himself claimed to come for an inspection of his class, but was now spacing out during it.
"Oh, this---"
Amortas blinked.
"Ah, well—Professor Moody, it's quite good. The young wizards are enjoying it very much. You've earned your place at Hogwarts."
"This guy!"
Professor Moody's breathing was irregular, and the scarred wounds on his face seemed to be about to split open.
"But---"
Amortas's eyes fell on Naveen Longbottom, whose shoulders were trembling slightly. The boy had just been terrified by the spider under the Imperio curse, and although some time had passed, Naveen Longbottom seemed to still not have recovered.
"But I must point out that one should not overemphasize the terror of the Three Unforgivable Curses to the young wizards. They are merely the black magic spells used more frequently during the time of Voldemort's activity. In my opinion, these three curses are just... um, relatively low-threshold black magic spells that are not absolutely terrifying. And they are not absolutely invincible either--"
Tap---
Harry's quill dropped, ink splattered on his notebook, but he didn't care about saving his class notes. He was astonished to look at Professor Brain.
Not absolutely indestructible—
Including the Avada Kedavra curse?
(The end of this chapter)
