Harry returns from Hogwarts Legacy

Chapter 262 Moody: This...this isn't right, Dumbledore?

Professor Moody certainly knew Neville, or rather—he knew Neville's parents, Frank Longbottom and Alice Longbottom.

Both of them were founding members of the Order of the Phoenix and made significant contributions in resisting the dark forces of the Death Eaters and Voldemort.

More than a decade ago, Frank and his wife Alice were captured by Bellatrix Lestrange and other Death Eaters and subjected to the Cruciatus Curse, a cruel form of torture. This torture drove Frank insane, and Alice suffered severe psychological trauma, losing her memory and becoming unable to recognize her son, Neville Longbottom.

Professor Moody was once a member of the Order of the Phoenix.

However, he didn't call out Neville's name first. After searching among his classmates, he chose Ron.

“Mr. Weasley,” Professor Moody said, pointing to Ron.

But his crazy eye remained fixed on Seamus, preventing him from sticking the chewing gum under the desk again.

Simo remained stiff and motionless, afraid that the somewhat eccentric professor might do something drastic to him.

Ron stood up, cleared his throat, and said, "Well, Professor, I know a spell called the Imperius Curse."

“Ah, yes,” Moody said approvingly. “Your father must know that spell… Back in the day, the Imperius Curse caused the Ministry of Magic a lot of trouble.”

He waved his hand, gesturing for Ron to sit down.

After Ron sat down, Professor Moody picked up his wand and swung it to open the box he kept in the classroom.

Three bottles flew out of the box and slowly landed on the podium.

Inside were enormous black spiders, which didn't look like mildly venomous species. The red spots on them told everyone that these were definitely highly venomous spiders that were not to be trifled with.

Ron swallowed hard. Although he had learned spells quite well, he was still quite afraid of spiders.

Moody reached into the bottle, grabbed a spider, and despite its violent struggles and its constantly snapping claws, placed it on his outstretched palm so everyone could see it.

"What a lovely little beauty..." he exclaimed in a soft voice.

Then he pointed his wand at it and murmured, "Engorgio (Grow bigger quickly)!"

The spider swelled up, and Ron swallowed hard, subtly shifting his chair back.

"Imperio (Astral projection)!"

The spider jumped off Moody's palm, suspended by a thin thread, and began to swing back and forth, as if sitting on a high swing.

It stiffly straightened its legs, then turned around and did a somersault, breaking the thin thread.

It slammed onto the table and started doing somersaults in circles.

Moody flicked his wand, and it stood up again on its two hind legs, dancing a kind of tap dance. Yes, tap dance.

Everyone laughed—except Moody.

"You think it's funny, don't you?" he asked in a gruff voice. "If I did this to you, would you like it?"

The laughter stopped almost immediately.

“Completely under my control,” Moody said softly—at which point the spider curled up and began rolling around incessantly. “I can make it jump out of the window, or drown itself, or leap into the throat of one of your classmates…”

Upon hearing this, Ron's expression froze, as if a spider had crawled into his throat.

He was somewhat disheartened at this point.

What the hell is the point of having such a vivid imagination?!

“Years ago, many wizards were controlled by the Imperius Curse,” Moody said. “I’m talking about the days when Voldemort’s power was at its peak. Did the Ministry of Magic really have a lot of work to do then, trying to distinguish who was being forced to act and who was acting of their own volition?”

As he said this, Professor Moody's crazy eyes were no longer staring straight at Seamus, but instead fixed on Draco's direction.

Noticing Professor Moody's gaze, Draco grunted reluctantly.

He knew, of course, that Professor Moody was subtly hinting at something to him.

Before the start of the school year, Draco was called away by his father, Lucius, who specifically instructed him not to give Mad-Eye Moody any leverage over him at school.

In Lucius's words, Moody is a person who judges others based on their character, not their actions. Once he decides that someone is problematic, he will never let them go.

Draco, of course, would keep his father's teachings in mind, so he simply kept his head down.

"The Imperius Curse can be resisted. I will teach you how, but it requires a strong personality and is not something everyone can master—you'd better try to avoid being hit by it."

"Stay alert at all times!" Professor Moody suddenly shouted, startling everyone.

He seemed quite pleased that his classmates had been startled.

"Does anyone know any spells? Illegal spells?" he continued.

This time, Moody looked at the students in front of him and chose Neville to answer the question.

“You,” he said, pointing in Neville’s direction, “you answer the question.”

“There is a Crucifixion Curse,” Neville said without changing his expression. “The spell is ‘Crucio.’ It is a very evil form of black magic. Anyone struck by the Crucifixion Curse will feel excruciating pain all over their body. The excruciating pain will make the victim wish they were dead. If the curse is not stopped, the victim will be tortured to the point of madness, or even death.”

When the conversation turned to the point of driving someone mad, Neville's face paled for a brief moment, but he still forced himself to give a detailed explanation of the question.

Moody was stunned.

However, he quickly realized what was happening and nodded, saying, "That's a good answer, then..."

He lowered his head, flipped through the roster, and when he looked up again, he said, "You're Longbottom, right? I know you... um, I'm sorry."

“It’s alright, Professor.” Neville smiled at Moody.

“Yes, Mr. Longbottom is right.” Moody released the Imperius Curse from the spider. After the curse was lifted, the spider stood there in a daze, not knowing what to do. “The Cruciatus Curse is an extremely evil dark magic. Only when the caster has a strong desire to torment people can this curse be successfully cast—which proves that he did not make a mistake unintentionally.”

Moody raised his wand again and aimed it at the spider.

"Crucio!"

Immediately, the spider's legs all retracted, pressing tightly against its body.

It flipped over, its body convulsing violently and swaying from side to side.

The tormented spider made no sound, but everyone believed that if it had vocal organs, it would be screaming desperately at that moment.

Moody didn't remove the wand, and the spider began to tremble and twitch even more violently -

None of the students could laugh out loud; they stared dumbfounded at the writhing, struggling spider on the platform, momentarily speechless. Moody's mad eyes were still scrutinizing Neville, and seeing him watch him torture the spider without flinching, Moody was also somewhat surprised.

That Longbottom kid...

Was he terrified, or...?

Seeing that Neville's expression was becoming increasingly calm, Moody also felt that it was pointless.

He slowly lowered the wand, and the spider stopped struggling, as if it had exhausted all its strength, lying motionless in place.

“Extremely painful, such a spell.” His voice was soft. “That’s why the Ministry of Magic lists this spell as one of the three Unforgivable Curses, because it is just too cruel.”

After saying that, Moody looked up at his classmates again and asked, "There's one last curse. Does anyone know what it is?"

As he said this, Professor Moody looked at Harry, as if expecting him to answer the question.

Of course, Moody also mentioned his name.

Hermione, who had raised her hand, was disappointed; she really wanted to answer the question.

“Mr. Potter,” Moody nodded gently, “I don’t need to look at the roster to recognize you among the students—”

He made a joke that wasn't too big or too small, but unfortunately, the students were all in a heavy mood at the time, and apart from Ron laughing twice, they didn't react at all.

“Alright,” Moody said again, “do you know what the last spell is, Mr. Potter?”

“The Avada Kedavra Curse, Professor,” Harry replied calmly. “It is the first of the Unforgivable Curses, capable of taking a person’s life in an instant.”

Upon hearing the name of the curse, the entire classroom fell silent, and the students wore expressions of extreme fear.

“Alright, sit down, Mr. Potter.” Moody nodded and looked at the students. “It’s good that you have such a sense of awe for such evil spells at your age—but I need to remind you that the wizarding world is not safe. You can’t expect the wizarding world after graduation to be as safe as Hogwarts, can you? I don’t want you to be struggling with the fear of the Killing Curse when you encounter dark wizards—what I’m going to do now is to dispel your fear of these three unforgivable curses.”

As he spoke, he raised his wand.

"Avada Kedavra!"

There was a blinding green light, and at the same time there was a chaotic sound, as if an invisible monster was flying through the air. At the same time, the spider turned over and lay on its back on the table. There was no scar on its body, but it was undoubtedly dead.

The classroom fell silent once again, with only the sound of the wind blowing through the window and turning the pages of books, and the sound of Professor Moody moving his body.

“Even if I let you know this spell, I’m not worried that you’ll use it recklessly—the Avada Kedavra curse requires a very strong magical foundation.” Professor Moody’s booming voice echoed throughout the classroom. “You can all take out your wands, point them at me, and say this spell. I suspect I’ll only get a little nosebleed at most… but that doesn’t matter. I’m here to teach you how to say the spell.”

"So, have you all learned it?" Moody shouted again, startling the students.

“I’ve learned it,” Harry nodded.

Professor Moody's body trembled.

A week has passed, and there are still small animals in this school that aren't afraid of me?

His crazy eyes were fixed on Harry as he said, “Really? Then you can try—if you can successfully cast this spell, I can give Gryffindor twenty points.”

Finally, he added, "Come on, aim your wand at me—"

Ron and Hermione: ?

No, Professor?
Are you really going to court death like this?

They didn't know if Harry had ever used the Avada Kedavra curse, but they were certain that Harry would definitely use it.

I think you've been eating too many red beans.

“Let’s use the spider, Professor,” Harry asked tentatively.

“No, no need!” Moody said gruffly. “Aim at me, kid—you won’t kill me, you’ll just give me a nosebleed…”

At that moment, Draco also looked up.

He certainly knew that Harry was skilled at Avada Kedavra, and in his imagination, even Voldemort might not have been as adept at it.

However, Moody's...

Draco didn't intend to say anything, but instead looked up with interest, ready to see how Harry would respond.

People who court death are common, but this is the first time he's seen someone like the professor who seems to enjoy courting death so much.

“I’ll use the spider, Professor,” Harry said to Moody. “You never know, it might be better to try it out with a spider first, what do you say?”

But Moody still stubbornly insisted that Harry use the Killing Curse on him, the kind of stubbornness that eight Thestrals couldn't pull back.

Harry had no choice but to raise his wand.

"Avada Kedavra!"

A powerful green light burst forth from the tip of Harry's wand, shooting straight at the bottle; the entire classroom seemed to be engulfed by this incredibly intense green light, especially Moody, who was at close range, and for a moment even saw his great-grandmother who had passed away many years ago.

No, something's not right...

He shook his head, trying to come to his senses.

Immediately afterwards, he saw the spider inside the bottle, which had turned over and was motionless.

Then he remembered that he had just had Harry test the Avada Kedavra Curse.

At the same time, a sense of lingering fear rose in his heart.

This...isn't this right?
Merlin's pants! If that Killing Curse had hit him just now, he would probably be dead by now.

What do kids these days eat to grow up?

"You, come with me!" Professor Moody said gruffly. "Come with me to the Headmaster's office! I need to speak with Dumbledore about this! Merlin's beard... to have a student like you at Hogwarts, I'm really afraid of you..."

He didn't say the rest, but everyone understood what he meant.

“Professor!” Hermione stood up and protested, “Harry isn’t that kind of person. You shouldn’t make such unfounded assumptions about him!”

Moody didn't say anything, but just limped out of the classroom.

As he reached the door, he turned back and shook his head, signaling Harry to follow.

As he walked toward the principal's office, Moody was still thinking.

This is no ordinary student; we must strike hard! Let him know the hardships of the magical world!
(End of this chapter)