Kassandra Bauer and the Goblet of Fire (Book 4)

Chapter 8: The Unforgivable Curses. And Hermione goes off the deep end.

The next two days occurred without great incident, unless you count Neville melting his sixth Cauldron in Potions. Which I don't. Snape, who seemed to have attained new levels of vindictiveness over the summer, gave Neville detention and Neville returned from it in a nervous state. Snape probably was angry he missed out of the Defense Against the Dark Arts Spot, again. That or Sikander made another rock song. Something about Snape's greasy hair. The second one sounds more accurate.

Finally, Thursday rolled around, and all we could talk about was Mad Eye Moody. Ron sounded beyond all excited, made us, along with a handful of other fourth years arrive at the class before the bell had even rang. 

We were all ecstatic of course. We were going to learn from the man who helped my Brother with the Cursed Vaults incident and who put many Dark Witches and Wizards in Azkaban. Hermione arrived late just as the bell rang. She came from the library, of course. Ron, Harry and I sat front and center, while Hermione and Ryan sat behind us. Ryan was excited. Hermione was not so much. 

Oh well, her loss. On the plus side, Malfoy looked anxious and paranoid that Mad Eye would turn him into an animal again.

"Alastor Moody." Mad Eye greeted us. Messily scribbling the word 'Moody' into the blackboard as he did. "Ex-Auror, Ministry malcontent." He threw the chalk aside carelessly. "And your New Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher." 

Ron and I both smiled excitedly. And Ron jumped out of his chair as Mad Eye stared at us. 

"Put your eyeballs back in your head, Ronald." Anubis grunted.

"I am here because Dumbledore asked me. End of story, goodbye, the end." Mad Eye explained bluntly. "Any Questions?" 

"Yeah." Ryan raised his hand. 

"That was a rhetorical question." Mad Eye replied. "And it's wrong." 

His magical eye flickered around the room, before continuing. 

"When it comes to the Dark Arts, I believe in a practical approach." Mad Eye began. "I've had a letter from Professor Lupin about this class. Seems you've had a pretty thorough grounding in tackling Dark Creatures- you've covered Boggarts, Red Caps, Hinkypunks, Grindylows, Kappas, and Werewolves, is that right?"

There was a general murmur of assent from all of us.

"But you're behind-very behind- on dealing with curses." Mad Eye said. "So, I'm here to bring you up to scratch on what Wizards can do to each other. Now, which of you can tell me how many Unforgivable Curses there are?"

Unforgivable Curses? Sounded a little extreme to be learning on the first day. But I knew all three. I'd seen Larisa use them all the time.

"Three, sir." Hermione answered quietly.

"And they are so named?" Mad Eye asked, drawing a three on the black board. 

"Because they are unforgivable." Hermione answered. "The use of any one of them will-" 

"Earn you a one way ticket to Azkaban, correct." Mad Eye cut her off, scribbling Unforgivable on the board. "Now, the Ministry says you're too young to see what these curses do. I say different! You need to know what you're up against! You need to be prepared! You need to find another place to put your chewing gum besides the underside of your desk, Mr. Finnigan!" 

"No way." I heard Seamus whisper. "The old codger can see out of the back of his head." 

"Wrong answer." I thought.

"And hear across classrooms!" Mad Eye meant business as he hurled the chalk across the room. You know, if it wasn't for the fact that I met this man before, and knew he was Ethan's old boss, I'd be terrified. "So." He began again. "Which curse shall we see first?"