Harry stepped into the DADA classroom, almost afraid to see what it looked like under the new professor. After a quick look around he decided that it actually wasn't too bad. Sure there were some weird things hanging around, but Harry assumed they would be learning about them during the class. It wasn't nearly as bad as Lockhart, or even Quirrell had their classrooms set up.
As he settled down in his seat next to Draco, Professor Moody still had not appeared, despite class beginning in less than a minute. There were no strange animals in the room that would indicate that Professor Moody was an Animagus, so he was probably just late.
A moment later the door slammed open. "Constant vigilance!" Professor Moody barked from the back of the room, making the entire class jump. Harry had his wand half drawn before he saw who it was, and he put it back in the holster. "Good lad, Potter. Always be prepared to defend yourself from anything. And even better for recognizing that this is a safe place and knowing when not to be paranoid. Of course, even in a school such as Hogwarts there is no place that is entirely safe. Always be vigilant!"
He reached the desk and flicked his wand, sending a stack of papers to each desk. "Fill this out by the end of class. It's a simple test to see what you have learned so far. Any wrong answers will not be counted against you, and I'm giving this test to everyone, so there will be questions you don't know because they haven't been covered yet. Once you finish the questions you will wait quietly until I dismiss you as apparently it is not appropriate to let children run amok in the halls during classes. Begin."
Harry took a quick look at his test and started. The questions had no order to them, and Harry found himself skipping several, but not as many as he had expected what with Lockhart teaching for a year. Most of the questions about creatures were easy enough to answer, since Moony had taught about them last year. As he neared the middle of the test, he found himself skipping more and guessed that this was where the questions started to be from fourth year and up.
When he finally put his quill down, he noticed that most of the other students had as well. The Slytherins shared this class with the Ravenclaws, so he wasn't surprised that a few people were still writing, especially Hermione. Harry had heard Draco put down his quill just a little bit before Harry had, so he elbowed him lightly and grinned lightly, nodding towards Hermione. Draco grinned back and they settled back to sit quietly.
Eventually everyone stopped writing, Hermione last of course, and Professor Moody summoned the papers. "Class dismissed," was all he said before turning to the papers to grade them.
Harry and Draco shared a glance and shrugged, heading to the door and waiting for Hermione, who had been near the front of the room. She quickly arrived and they walked together.
"I'm cautiously optimistic that he at least isn't a horrible professor," Hermione commented after a moment. "The placement test was a good idea, it'll show where we all are academically and how much we all know or don't know will tell him whether it was the professors or the students not studying."
Harry nodded. "Yeah, but emphasis on the cautiously part. He still has plenty of time to make us regret liking him."
Draco snorted. "I wouldn't go that far. He's too paranoid to be likeable. He praised you for pulling a wand on him!"
Harry laughed. "Well, you've got a point there. What kind of teacher lets that slide?"
Hermione huffed. "Well I'm still hopeful. He is teaching us to defend ourselves. How can we do that without having good reflexes? Plus don't forget that Voldyshorts seems to actually be coming for you, Harry. I say it's better to pull a wand on somebody and maybe hurt them then to let them hurt you, or even kill you, first."
"Yeah, you're right Mione. Doesn't mean he should be glad I'm pulling my wand on him."
*****************************
The next DADA class arrived and Harry slid into his seat next to Draco a few minutes before class started. Professor Moody was already at the front, and the second the class began he shot a spell at the door, locking it. Luckily no one was late, since it was a Slytherin-Ravenclaw class, but Harry wouldn't be surprised if the first Gryffindor-Hufflepuff class had someone locked out.
Professor Moody stood up and started lecturing. "It seems that your professors were not very adequate, except for the one last year, even with his. Unfortunate disease." Harry tensed, and only Draco's hand on his leg stopped him from doing something foolish. "Therefore, we will just start anew. Patil! What are the worst curses known to wizardkind?"
Patil seemed startled to be called on but quickly answered. "The Unforgivables, Professor."
"Correct. Davis, name them."
"The Imperius, the Cruciatus, and the Killing Curse." Tracy Davis was, as always, perfectly composed despite the clear surprise that still lingered from the random topic change from the placement tests to the Unforgivables.
"Correct. Brocklehurst! Tell me what the Imperius does!"
"Er, the Imperius makes the victim do whatever the caster wants."
"Close enough for now, although that will be challenged by the end of class. Observe!" Professor Moody conjured a large spider, then said, "Imperio." The spider went still and Professor Moody smirked. "Jump up and down." The spider did so. "Weave a web." The spider obeyed again and Harry fought the desire to cast a quick spell to Vanish the spider so it wouldn't have to do all this. "As you know, spiders don't understand human languages, so what is it that makes the spider know what I want of it? Potter!"
Harry gulped. "The Imperius somehow makes it so that your desires are imposed upon the victim. What you want, the victim wants. So if you want the spider to dance, the spider also wants to dance. If you're better at the Imperius, you can probably tell the victim what to do without vocal commands."
"Correct! The Imperius creates some sort of mental link between caster and victim. Observe." He focused on the spider again, and a moment later the spider began to crawl off the table and towards the nearest student, stopping just before Hermione. Then the spider walked backwards, climbing back up the desk, still facing Hermione.
"Granger! Tell me what the Cruciatus does!"
Hermione took a deep breath, clearly disturbed by the spider and spat out the answer that Harry was sure came directly from a book. "The Cruciatus curse, incantation Crucio, causes indescribable pain to the victim. If exposed to a long period of time, the victim may lose all nerve function or go insane."
"Correct. Observe." Moody enlarged the spider and cast. "Crucio." The spider began writhing in clear pain and Harry winced, while Draco flinched minutely. Probably no one else saw it. Hopefully. Draco had a reputation to uphold, and as much as Harry thought it was ridiculous, it kept Draco safe so Harry didn't care what his thoughts about it were.
Finally, Moody moved his wand away from the spider and the poor arachnid lay still, seeming dead. Harry almost hoped the Killing curse would be sent at the poor thing next, just so it could be put out of it's misery.
"What your textbooks don't tell you is that since there is a slight mental connection with the Cruciatus, like there is with the Imperius, there is slight pain to the caster as well. It's speculated that that is the cause of insanity in some dark wizards and witches. Of course, the more insane you are, the more pain you want to feel. The less you feel that pain, the more you need to feel, so you cast the spell more, making your insanity worse." Moody spoke quietly, and Harry remembered the slight smirk he thought he had seen on Moody's face as he cast the Cruciatus on the spider and grimaced. This was a man who had cast the curse before, and often.
"Malfoy! Tell me the final curse!" Moody snapped after a moment.
Draco took an almost invisible deep breath and squeezed Harry's leg before answering. "The Killing Curse does exactly what it says. It kills. Since only one person has survived it, and he was a baby at the time, no one knows if it's painless or not, but it seems to be, other than the fear of facing someone pointing a wand at you and saying the incantation."
"Correct. The only person who survived it is in this room. Observe." He spoke the incantation and the room lit up green, making Harry faintly hear cries of "Please, no, not my son, kill me, not my son!", making him flinch and Draco's hand tighten on his leg again. Once his vision came back into focus, he saw the spider laying dead on Moody's desk and tightened his hands into fists, taking a deep breath.
There was a moment of silence before Moody spoke again. "Now. Dumbledore has given me permission to train you how to fight against the Imperius curse. It is possible, but it takes a lot of willpower. The only way to learn is to do, so I'll be calling you up here one at a time and casting Imperio at you. You will attempt to resist. I will continue doing this throughout the year, although not every day, until all of you can resist." The class burst out into hushed whispers, but Harry could only sit in shocked silence. What. What kind of idiot decided that casting an illegal curse that creates a mental link between two people on fourteen year olds would be a good idea?
By the time Harry had tuned in again, Moody had already called a few students. They had all failed, if Draco's expression was any judge. Moody seem to be going in alphabetical order, so Harry just sat back and watched, focusing most of his attention inwards. Moody had said it would be a battle of willpower. The Dursleys had always said he was stubborn, and while he generally ignored them, Harry thought this would be a good time to take what they said to heart.
Moody finally called Hermione and Harry tensed. "Imperio." Moody's voice was implacable, like he knew that what he was going to say next would be obeyed. "Jump up and down." Hermione seemed to struggle for a moment, but then she obediently jumped up and down. Moody quickly removed the spell and smirked. "You did well enough, for your first time. Once more. Imperio." Hermione's eyes went blank, and Moody ordered her to jump up and down again. After a moment of hesitation, she did. Harry clenched his teeth as Moody released her back to her seat.
A few more people went up, with the Slytherins putting up more of a fight than the Ravenclaws, but not by much. Harry suspected that it had something to do with the stubbornness required to have ambition and stick to it. After a few minutes, Draco was called up. Harry tensed even more as Moody spoke. "Imperio." Draco's eyes went blank and Harry's heart clenched. He hated seeing his best friend like that. "Jump up and down." It had been the standard order, and so far everyone had jumped with barely any hesitation, except for Theo Nott, who had resisted for almost ten seconds before jumping. Harry held his breath as Draco hesitated, but ultimately jumped. Moody did it one more time, and released Draco back to his chair.
"I hated that," Draco whispered after a student had gone. "It felt like I wanted to jump, not like someone else wanted me to."
Before Harry had time to answer, it was finally his turn. "Imperio." Harry felt his mind blank and panicked. No! If he didn't have anything to think about he would go insane! There was silence in his mind for only a moment before a voice filled the void. Jump up and down. Harry wanted to follow the command. Anything to keep his head from being empty like this. But then he paused. If his head was empty, how was he thinking that he wanted his head to not be empty?
Jump up and down. The voice was more insistent this time, so Harry spoke back to it. Why? The voice seemed taken aback. Harry had no idea how a bodiless voice could be taken aback. Was it just his imagination? That was so weird. Because you want to. The voice had finally answered, and Harry had to admit that had a point. But jumping up and down didn't seem like something he'd want to do. Maybe he wanted to go to the library with Draco? No, you want to jump up and down. Harry shook his head. Mentally shook his head? No, I want to go to the library with Draco. As he thought that, his mind cleared and was filled with all his normal thoughts again. He glanced around and found himself trying to pull Draco to his feet while Draco looked confused.
"Did, did Harry do it?" Hermione's voice was confused.
Moody looked confused too. "Uh. Yes? I've never seen someone override the Imperius like that. But he didn't jump up and down and specifically did something I did not tell him to do, so, I guess?"
The rest of class went by relatively quickly, with the last few students not being able to do more than just hesitate briefly. Once everyone had gone, Moody dismissed them. Harry, Hermione, and Draco walked towards the library together, and Harry snorted. "Guess we should write this prof off too, huh? I mean seriously. Teaching us the Unforgivables on our second day? Honestly."
Hermione and Draco shared a glance, and then all three of them burst into laughter.
AN: Harry under the Imperius from a different POV:
Hermione watched anxiously as Moody put Harry under the Imperius. "Jump up and down." Harry didn't do anything. Hermione cocked her head. Would he do it? Moody repeated himself more firmly. "Jump up and down." "Why?" Harry's voice sounded distant and almost childish, and Hermione stifled her laughter as Moody blinked in shock. "Because you want to," he replied. "That doesn't sound like something I'd want to do. I think I actually want to go to the library with Draco." Moody blinked again, then said firmly, "No, you want to jump up and down." "No, I want to go to the library with Draco." Hermione watched as Harry walked across the room to Draco and started pulling him to his feet, only to blink awake and look confusedly down at what he was doing. Blushing, he sat down, and Hermione turned to Moody. "Did- did he do it?"
Ok anyway. I just needed to write that cause it was so funny lmao.