𝐒𝐊𝐈𝐍 - 𝐡.𝐩.

10 | Why Mismatched Eyes Are Useful

"Years back, there were a lot of witches and wizards being controlled by the Imperius Curse," Moody continued, his blue eye seemed to stop at Draco and Theodore for a moment. "Some job for the Ministry, trying to sort out who was being forced to act, and who was acting of their own free will.

"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!" he barked, and most people seemed to control their involuntary jumping this time. Moody nodded approvingly.

"Mr. Zabini," he suddenly turned to Blaise. "You seemed to perform well in preventing the spider earlier," he said. "Give us the second curse."

"The Cruciatus Curse," Blaise replied in a toneless voice, looking relaxed as ever.

"Ah, yes," said Moody. "The torture curse," He pointed his wand at the spider. "Engorgio!" The spider swelled to approximately four times its size. "Crucio!"

At once, the spider's legs bent in upon its body; it rolled over and began to twitch horribly, rocking from side to side. No sound came from it, but if it could have been given a voice, it would have been screaming. Moody did not remove his wand, and the spider started to shudder and jerk more violently.

No one said a word, though many of them simply studied the spider carefully. Gemini's eyes, cold and intense, were fixed on the spider in an unblinking stare, but her mind wasn't in the slightest focused on what her eyes took in. Draco, on the other hand, didn't seem very entertained. Instead, his blue-grey eyes stared at the spider with an odd look.

"Not remotely pleasant, is it?" asked Moody, and he stunned the spider to keep it in place. "Pain," he said softly. "You don't need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can perform the Cruciatus Curse... That one was very popular once too..." His normal eye stayed fixed on the spider as the magical one zoomed around the classroom and stopped at Millicent. "Miss Bulstrode, the third curse please."

Millicent wasn't much of a responsive student in classes and usually chose to be quiet and isolated from everyone. So given this behaviour of hers, it was really a shock for them to see her answer the question in a cool, confident voice, "The Killing Curse."

"The last and the worst," said Moody. "no pain, no control; instant death."

He undid the spell on the spider, which tried to escape at once. But then Professor Moody spoke two simple words, "Avada Kedavra," and the spider dropped dead on Pansy's desk, who shrieked along with Tracey, both clutching each other tightly.

Gemini watched the entire process with an unreadable, blank look. Draco tried to act unbothered but he was fidgeting with his ring.

"Not nice," Moody said calmly. "Not pleasant. And there's no countercurse. There's no blocking it. Only one known person has ever survived it, and I'm assuming you all know him."

"Saint Potter." Draco sneered.

"Harry Potter." Moody corrected him. "Avada Kedavra's a curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behind it — you could all get your wands out now and point them at me and say the words, and I doubt I'd get so much as a nosebleed. But that doesn't matter. I'm not here to teach you how to do it."

Everyone exchanged looks.

"Now, if there's no countercurse, why am I showing you? Because you've got to know. You've got to appreciate what the worst is. You don't want to find yourself in a situation where you're facing it. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he roared, and no one jumped this time.

"Very good, very good," he muttered. "This class is progressive. Now... those three curses — Avada Kedavra, Imperius, and Cruciatus — are known as the Unforgivable Curses. The use of any one of them on a fellow human being is enough to earn a life sentence in Azkaban. That's what you're up against. That's what I've got to teach you to fight. You need to prepare. You need arming. But most of all, you need to practice constant, never-ceasing vigilance. Get out your quills... copy this down...."