Magic? || Years 1-5

The Unforgivable Curses: Year 4

Apparently, Moody's eye could see through more than just the back of his head. Unnerving was an understatement.

"So..." Moody continued as if there hadn't been any interruption, "do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by Wizarding law?"

A few hands rose up into the air, including Hermione (of course) and surprisingly Ron.

Moody nodded at the redhead, his blue eye on Lavender.

"Er, my dad told me about one... Is it called the Imperius Curse, or something?" Ron replied hesitantly.

"Ah, yes. Your father would know that one. Gave the Ministry a lot of trouble at one time, the Imperius Curse," Moody nodded, getting to his feet, opening his desk drawer, and pulling out a jar of three spiders.

Ron flinched.

He reached inside and pulled out one of the shiny black spiders, placing it on the palm of his hand, and pointing his wand at it.

"Imperio!"

The spider leaped out of his hand, swinging back and forth on a thin strand of string. Its legs stretched out and it did a backflip, landing on the desk and breaking the thread so it could cartwheel around.

Moody jerked his wand and the spider started to tap dance.

The entire class was laughing, but Moody looked very far from amused.

"Think it's funny, do you? You'd like it, would you, if I did it to you?" He growled lowly.

And then no one was laughing anymore.

"Total control," Moody murmured, the spider rolling up into a ball and doing somersaults. "I could make it jump out of the window, drown itself, throw itself down one of your throats..."

Ron shuddered.

"Years back, there were a lot of witches and wizard being controlled by the Imperius Curse. Some job for the Ministry, trying to sort out who was being forced to act, and who was acting of their own free will," His voice was dark. "The Imperius Curse can be fought, and I'll be teaching you how, but it takes real strength of character, and not everyone's got it. Better avoid being hit with it if you can. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"

Amisty nearly fell out of her seat.

Moody put the spider back into the jar, "Anyone else know one? Another illegal curse?"

Hermione's hand went up, and Neville's did as well.

That was even more of a surprise than Ron. Neville never spoke up in any class other than Herbology.

"Yes?" Moody asked, his magical eye turning toward Neville.

"There's one -- the Cruciatus Curse," Neville replied, his voice very faint but still distinct.

"Your name's Longbottom?" Moody asked, his real eye the one focused on Neville now and the magical one flitting toward the register.

Neville nodded, swallowing nervously, but Moody said nothing more and picked up the next spider.

This one stayed very still. It seemed to be frozen in terror.

"The Cruciatus Curse," He told the class. "Needs to be a bit bigger for you to get the idea. Engorgio!"

Ron pushed his chair back as far away as possible as the spider grew bigger than a tarantula.

Lovely.

Moody raised his wand, murmuring, "Crucio!"

The spider's legs curled up onto its body, rolling over and twitching and rocking back and forth.